Evenflo Sure Ride

A reasonably priced seat that performs well. It is fairly straightforward to use but some important labeling such as harness use restrictions and recline indicators are molded into the seat and difficult to see. Although not required, at times a belt locking clip is needed to secure the seat rear-facing.

Consumer Reports has developed a new crash test that offers consumers comparative performance information on which car seats could provide an additional margin of safety when compared with other models within the same ratings group that have been subjected to the same test protocol. Our Crash Protection Ratings are based on injury criteria measured on standardized child-size dummies, contact of the dummy’s head with the back of a simulated front seat and a car seat’s ability to remain intact during the course of testing. Consumer Reports’ new crash tests are not designed to check whether a seat complies with current federal car seat safety standards. Rather, the purpose of our new tests is to differentiate the seats’ performance on a scale that ranks the performance of tested seats ranging from “basic” to “best.” Our focus on providing an “extra margin” of safety, rather than on determining whether a seat is safe or not, is based on the fact that any car seat sold in the U.S. already must provide an essential level of safety under the government standards. The new test conditions were carefully designed to simulate the interior environment and forces encountered during a crash in contemporary vehicles. Changes from the way that convertible seats were rated previously include using a test bench that better simulates the vehicle seat design from a contemporary vehicle, with more representative cushion stiffness and seat geometry and incorporation of a “blocker” to simulate a front seatback. The new test also runs at a higher 35mph speed, with other representative dynamic characteristics that better simulate the behavior of contemporary vehicles during a crash.
 

The Evenflo Sure Ride is part of the Car Seats test program at Consumer Reports. In our lab tests, Convertible Car Seats models like the Sure Ride are rated on multiple criteria, such as those listed below.

Ease of use: Our judgment of how easy each seat is to use including the clarity of labels and instructions, adjustments of clips and buckles, the transition of the seat from rear facing to forward facing and installation features such as LATCH connections and top tethers.

Rear LATCH: Rear-facing installation using the LATCH system. A rating of how compatible, easy and secure a child car seat can be correctly installed in certain test vehicles. This rating is based on a rear-facing installation using the LATCH system.

Rear belt: Rear-facing installation using vehicle seat belts. A rating of how compatible, easy and secure a child car seat can be correctly installed in certain test vehicles. This rating is based on a rear-facing installation using the vehicle belts.