Installation and car fit are the most important things when picking a seat. If a seat is being sold in the US, then it's passed safety standards. I'd focus on picking the right seat for you vehicle(s) versus worried about what seat has the most bells and whistles. Car Seats For Littles is a great group. You can find a lot information there. Also you can't go wrong with one of the big brands, like Graco, which we have used for both our kids. More on reddit.com

Evenflo revolve 360. We’ve had 2 baby trend car seats, a Graco car seat, and the evenflo and evenflo is hands down my favorite. Easy to rotate and it’s the one my daughter has cried the least in lol More on reddit.com

I'm a Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) in the United States and can speak on seats here. Unfortunately, there are no standardized safety ratings in the United States. It is up to each manufacturer to meet and test their seats to certain federal guidelines, and the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) enforces them (recalling seats that do not pass the guidelines). So while all seats must meet the same criteria and pass the same tests, we don't know if any seats exceed these marks. What we do know from the NHTSA sled test is that the crash simulated in the test is a pretty traumatic one, so any properly used and installed seat is a safe seat. That said, the NHTSA test does (IMO) need to be updated, and a few years ago Consumer Reports did try to make a more modernized sled test, which did yield some interesting results. I haven't personally used their results to steer me towards buying a particular seat, but if it made you feel more at ease to do so, then the only 3rd party test I have found to seem to have some merit is the Consumer Reports one. When watching sled tests, they can seem jarring and dangerous, even when the seat is used correctly. A trained eye can pinpoint actual concerns, while many sled test YouTube videos seem to create unnecessary concern. We do know from European tests that certain bells and whistles can help distribute crash forces differently (anti-rebound bars, fixed anchor connectors, load legs, etc), which might exceed NHTSA guidelines. European seats are made differently than American ones, so we don't know how much (if at all) those features can help for American consumers, but they can be something to keep in mind when buying. Ultimately the safest seat is one that is properly used, properly installed, and fits safely in your vehicle (not all seats fit in all vehicles!). I definitely recommend meeting with a CPST locally before having a baby to make sure that you understand how to use and install your seat. Over 90% of infants leave the hospital with one or more errors to car seat use, and I'm a huge proponent for drastically changing that statistic! More on reddit.com

There are no safety ratings, they all pass the same very stringent testing. I’d absolutely trust the Scenera Next with my own child’s life. It has passed the same tests as a much heavier seats. It’ll flex well and take the crash forces away from the child. More on reddit.com