Customer Reviews

Safety 1st Air Protect Complete Convertible Car Seat, Silverleaf

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

At the end of the day we have a carseats to protect out children. Convience and ease of use is important, but nothing matters more than keeping our children safe. A few days ago my car spun out 360degrees and flipped, landing upside down in the woods off the highway. After crawling to the back I easily removed my child and got him out of the car. Amazingly he didn't have a scratch bump or bruise on him. The police commended the instalation (which I did myself following the directions, it took me about 30mins to get right the first time, after I got the hang of it, it was a five minute process, which we have done often because we move it between two cars)

Several days now after the accident, he is as happy as ever, showing no signs of any physical trauma(he did have a chest x-ray at the hospital)

I have kept my child rear facing even though he is 15months, It was one of the things I liked about this carseat was you could keep them rearfacing longer. While rearfacing the carseat does take up a lot of room and my husband doesn't like sitting in the seat in front of it because it squished his legs (small price to pay for safety). I have never had a problem with buckling my son into or out of the seat or adjusting it to his size.

For me this carseat passed the ultimate test. I am so thankful for it and we will be loyal users for a long time

I have had NO problems with this car seat for the past 9 months that my daughter has been riding in it.

I'll respond to each previous reviewers' complaints:

The clasps/clips:

The issues that a previous reviewer wrote about the difficulty with opening and closing the clips/clasps on the seat have not been even a small problem for me. (And I've had problems with previous seats, so much so that I've had to change seats several times before finding this one.) I put my daughter in and out of this seat several times a day and I've never once become frustrated with it. (And it's not because I'm super patient. I was frustrated with 3 other seats until I found this one.)

The too upright position of the seat when rear-facing:

If the car seat is installed properly, when you put it rear facing you need to place a rolled towel or swim "noodle" under the car seat at the foot and tilt it back until the line on the side of the seat lines up with the sticker with the arrows that tell you how to line it up. If you don't do that, then you didn't follow the instructions.

The seat taking up too much space and cramping drivers' or passengers' legs in the rear facing position:

The safest place for a rear-facing seat is in the middle of the back seat. If you install it that way, you won't have any problems with space.

Accessing the strap to tighten the harness:

If you follow the instructions that state that you must tilt the seat back and make the line on the side level with the arrows, then the tightening strap is easy to access.

Tightening the harness and it tightening one side more than the other:

If you use the straps and the tightener the way they are meant to be used then you will loosen the harness before you take your child out and then when you put them in, the harness will be loose enough to clip before you tighten and then you can tighten it evenly after it is clipped. If you're having problems with tightening the harness then you need to make sure that you are pressing the metal piece that loosens the strap as you pull on the closed harness. Also, if you're having trouble pulling the strap out to tighten the harness then you aren't pressing the metal thing at the foot of the seat that makes it so you can loosen the harness. It's not going to move until you press that down as you pull the harness out.

This car seat is NOT "impossible" to install, adjust, etc. Obviously, because I did it. And I'm no super heroine. I'm just a mom that read the instructions and, just to be safe, went to You Tube and watched the Safety First instructional video on how to install the seat.

It's not rocket science, people.

It's a shame if people are giving this seat a bad review because of their own incompetence and inability to follow instructions.

This car seat is perfectly functional. Just give it due diligence and READ THE MANUAL. And, just to be safe, go to [...] and watch the Safety First video on how to install this car seat. Search "Installing the Safety 1st Complete Air, rear facing with LATCH.

No need to "duct tape" your baby to the roof of the car! ; )

I really, really, really wanted this car seat to work. It's a second seat for my mother's car. I found it for $129 with a manufacture date of 3/2010. I have a Britax Diplomat in my A4. I really like it, but wanted something equally safe without the Britax price tag for my mother's Civic. It's a very nice seat, and is probably a fantastic choice for some.

Plusses: The seat is well made. Although many dislike the buckle design, I find it comforting knowing the baby cannot disconnect it on his own. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but it functions well. The fabric is high quality at the seat is made in the USA. It's good competition for any of the larger TSIP Britax seats if the price on the Britax is outside of your budget. The seat is reasonably easy to install firmly. There are many adjustments similar to the more expensive Britax seats.

Minuses: It's huge. I followed the directions, and in the fully reclined position, the seat simply would not fit in any position (with the level bar horizontal) in the Civic rear facing. It barely fit in the A4 with the passenger side seat forward all the way. Why? The Civic's rear seats tilt back towards the rear of the car considerably, further forcing the seat forward. When you add all the towels or wacky noodles necessary to level the seat, the seat is 2/3 of the way into the front of the passenger cabin. The A4, and similarly BMW 330 series cars have a flatter rear seat. Even though these seats are tighter for an adult, they accommodate a car seat much better. A small car may be able to accommodate this seat, but try it out first.

If you have a minivan or a 2 row full size SUV and need this seat rear facing - don't hesitate. I think this seat is awesome, and an incredibly safe choice for the money. For larger cars or if you're in the market for a front facing chair, I wouldn't even bother looking any further. For a small sedan in the rear facing position, go with a seat like the Diplomat.

Unlike the previous reviewer of this seat I can't say enough about the benefits of rearfacing for as long as possible and then extended forward facing harness use.

I bought this seat for my 2 year old daughter who turns 3 in April. The seat is roomy and comfortable as well as extremly safe. And - safety is what is most important! Kudos to Safety First for making this seat have a min height of 34 inches for forward facing - what better way to discourage early forward facing than to make the seat just not do it! :)

The seat installed easily using the seat belts in my Ford E350. It only took me about 5 minutes and I got a really tight fit. I have a very large vehicle, so the size of the seat was not an issue for me. It is a large seat though, so you might want to try it in your vehicle first.

I have had these car seat now for a couple weeks with my 8-month-old and have been nothing but pleased with it. Since my baby seems comfortable and happy in it, I feel like it's more important in this review for me to address issues that other people seem to have had with this car seat that caused them to give it a negative review. I will say that the fabric has caused my normally sweaty son to not get so overheated, and the cover removes easily for cleaning. I also love that the shoulder straps are tied in to the adjustable back/side air pocket supports so that as baby grows you won't have to repeatedly disassemble the whole strap mechanism just to adjust the height.

Some people have said that when rear-facing the seat causes their child to sit "too upright." This will only be the case if you have installed the seat incorrectly. I confess I almost made that mistake myself, so I can see where other people have done it. There is a level line on the side which should be parallel to the ground, and if it's in correctly the seat will be very reclined and comfy for baby. Yes, you will need to put a rolled towel under it to get it lined up correctly. From what I understand this is pretty common with convertible seats.

IF YOUR BABY IS TOO UPRIGHT IN THIS CAR SEAT, YOU HAVE NOT INSTALLED IT CORRECTLY! THIS IS YOU ENDANGERING YOUR CHILD, NOT THE CAR SEAT!!

In terms of size and fitting into the vehicle, I have mine installed behind the passenger seat of a 2004 Subaru Forester (so it's much smaller than a new Forester). The front seat is now pretty close up, but not all the way forward. This isn't a problem for us because my husband and I are both pretty small people - it's actually pretty close to where I have to have the driver's seat anyway! However in addition to the safety features we chose this seat in part because if you see it in the store next to a lot of the other convertibles out there it is clearly narrower and we are hoping to add another car seat to the back in the next year or so. :) If you have a compact car there could be a problem with size, but my Forester isn't much bigger than a regular sedan. Our other car is a Mini Cooper - I will update my review after I try installing it in that!!

As to installation, the first installation took me a while because I was still getting familiar with it and reading the directions. Probably about 20 minutes. Some tips: When rear-facing, you will probably need a rolled up towel or two so be prepared when you first head out to install it. The instructions may tell you to remove the cover from the bottom, but then you can't put it back on once it's firmly installed. I found it best to push aside the cover from the right side where the latch strap is tightened from. The instructions tell you to pull the strap through the access hole, and this is a good idea. The second time I installed it took about 2 minutes. I also want to note here that regardless of what the directions say, an average mom simply pushing down on the seat "firmly" with your hand does not exert enough pressure to securely install the seat. The best thing to do is kneel on it with as much of your body weight as you can (making sure not to compress the strap) while tightening the straps down.

I also noticed some comments about the ease of using the buckles and harness straps. I have had absolutely no problems with this at all. The buckles I found to be easier than on my Chicco infant seat, actually. And although clearly my son isn't old enough yet to have enough dexterity to open the chest strap buckle it looks like the design is such that he won't be able to open it himself for a long time. I also found the straps to be softer than on other car seats which is kind of nice so I don't feel like they are cutting into his chubby little legs. The access point for the strap release is a tiny bit difficult to push because the hole in the cover could probably stand to be a little bit bigger.

Overall we are very pleased with this car seat, and my mother is probably going to get one for her car.

I have three kids (all still in car seats) and have purchased 4 different car seats for them over the years. This one, (that I just purchased for my youngest a few months ago) is far better than any of the others we have tried. Yes, it is big, but if you have a van, you will not have problems. I plan to buy this car seat for all of my kids replacing their current ones. You really can see the difference in head protection. I can't believe I have let my kids ride in their other seats now that I have seen the difference.

Have two of these car seats for my son (one for each car). For me installation was quite easy. Didn't quite experience the difficulties mentioned in the 1 star reviews. My son has been using the seat since he's about 1. In fact, I bought the second seat after using the first one for ~6 months. You can imagine how happy I'm with it. The looks is the best in the market. Side protection gives me comfort. Don't have anything negative to say about it.

My MIL purchased this for my daughter in April and I haven't had any problems with it. The first installation was a bit tricky but that's because I didn't know what I was doing. My daughter in 1 now and she is still rear facing. I agree the carseat takes up a lot of room but thats a small price to pay for my daughters safety. This is everything I wanted in a carseat and more.

I rarely leave reviews but in this case I love this carseat so much I had too! My son is 6mo old and he has been in this seat for 3 months. He has always been off the charts for his age and outgrew his infant seat much sooner than I expected. After reading the reviews for this seat I was hesitant but went ahead and made the purchase. We have no problems at all with the latches, my 4 year old even helps me and is able to latch them. We used the latch belt to install it and read the directions so installation went well and the seat sat just right in my saturn vue. My biggest love of this car seat was that we were involved in a high speed accident and my son suffered no injuries. He was just as snug and secure afterwards as he was before it happened. Which is why when I buy my replacement for his seat I will purchase another of these!

The Complete Air Convertible car seat is nice. No problems with the setup and installation. Latch system worked no problem and seat felt secure. The headrest and strap adjustment was easy, fast, and very convenient. No need to undo the back buckle and reinsert to the higher slots when your kid gets taller. Its a nice added feature and saves a lot of time. Fastening and releasing the five point harness was easy as 1,2,3. No problems with getting fingers pinched, or getting the clips stuck. Tightening is a cinch. Just pull the strap at the bottom and the shoulder straps tightened evenly. Releasing the straps was easy too. The metal release button was a little tricky to find at first as your finger has angle a little higher to reach it, but once you know where it is, its easy. I didn't have any problems that previous reviewers have stated.

The little lumbar support pad is nice, but is not secured to anything. The air cushions on the sides are nice. Very padded. Fabric appears to breath nicely. The side cushions did seem to obstruct some lateral view for my kid though and the seat sat a little lower in the car too. She couldn't see outside as well compared to her other car seat, but not a big deal. When she falls asleep, her head slumps forward, but her head did that with other seats too. It's a natural tendency for front facing seats. I do that when I fall asleep, unless I'm lying down.

The seat travels well. Fits through the xray machine no problem and fits in the airplane seats easily. The airplane fasteners endup behind the seat so tightening is a little tricky the first time, but subsequent times, much easier. Had a wheel bag so didn't really carry it around the airport, but its not too heavy. Overall very satisfied with the seat.