New ratings for children's booster seats

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to release new ratings.

DETROIT – For many parents with young children, making the switch from a car seat to a booster seat can be a stressful task.

Knowing which seat is best can make the decision making process a little easier, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is helping parents do just that.

On Tuesday, the institute released new ratings for booster seats on how well they work to help safely secure 4 to 8 year olds with the car's seat belts.

IIHS took a look at 23 new booster seats in 2015, and say 20 earn the highest rating of "Best Bet." while the other three are "Good Bets." A "Good Bet," means the booster seat will provide acceptable belt fit in most vehicles.

Even though none of the newer models received poor ratings, the institute says there are many carryover seats from past years that are still available that may not give parents the safety their looking for.

In addition to the ratings, IIHS is calling for manufactures to end the production of six older models that are offered on the market, and will phrase out an additional 31 seats.

The full list of 2015 evaluations is below. Dual-use booster seat ratings (those that can be used in high-back or backless modes) vary for each position.

Best Bet

  • BubbleBum (backless)
  • Chicco KidFit (backless mode)
  • Chicco KidFit (high-back mode)
  • Diono Cambria (backless mode)
  • Diono Cambria (high-back mode)
  • Eddie Bauer Storage Booster (backless)
  • Evenflo Advanced Transitions (backless mode)
  • Evenflo Advanced Transitions (high-back mode)
  • Evenflo Platinum Evolve (backless mode)
  • Evenflo Platinum Evolve (high-back mode)
  • Graco Atlas 65 (high back)
  • Graco Tranzitions (backless mode)
  • Graco Tranzitions (high-back mode)
  • Harmony Defender 360 (backless mode)
  • Harmony Defender 360 (high-back mode)
  • JanÇ Montecarlo R1 (high-back)
  • Lil Fan Box Seat (backless)
  • Little Tikes Highback Booster (backless mode)
  • Little Tikes Highback Booster (high-back mode)
  • Little Tikes Backless Booster (backless)

Good Bet

  • Cybex Solution M-Fix (high back)
  • Cybex Solution Q2-Fix (high back)
  • Safety 1st Grow and Go (high back)

For more information, and a complete list of seats that not recommended click here