The True Fit Convertible Car Seat($199) by The First Years is the only seat you will need from birth to 65 lbs, its rear facing from 5-35 lbs and forward facing from 22-65lbs. We were excited to get our son out of his infant car seat as he had pretty much outgrown it by the time he was 9 months old. The seat has lots of plush padding to keep my son comfortable with an insert you can easily remove to wash and cushioned shoulder straps for protecting your child’s neck.
Getting Started: Out of the box the True Fit was ready to go. Immediately we sat our son in it to adjust the harness. It was easy to figure out how the non re-thread harness worked by pulling out and up on the Height Adjustment Release handles. By doing this we were able to adjust it to my son’s height in seconds. This was so much easier than our previous experience re-threading the straps through the slots in our old car seat.
To tighten the 5 point harness straps we simply pulled up on the adjuster strap at the bottom of the seat where you can also loosen the straps by lifting up on the metal tab. After using the seat for a bit we noticed that the you need to pull up on the strap multiple times to tighten the harness as it doesn’t pull completely snug with the first tug. This prevents you from adjusting the harness too tight on your child on the first pull. It is also nice that the harness can be adjusted while the seat is installed, which is very convenient for growth spurts.
Both my husband and I were pleased that the True Fit included many of the safety features that we were looking for in a Car Seat like:
- energy absorbing foam and deep side wings tested to international standards for side impacts that really surround and protect your child,
- the universal anchorage system (UAS) for attaching the car seat to your vehicle’s seat without using the seat belt (called LATCH in the USA or ISOFIX in Europe),
- the Rebound Energy Management system, featuring a flip-up rebound bar that helps manage the rebound in a crash situation,
- center angle indicator to ensure you have installed your seat correctly, 35 and 45 degree angle indicators for rear facing for infants,
- 5 point non re-threading harness,
- 5 star government safety ratings especially where securing your child is concerned and ease of use and installation
Installation: The True Fit seat was easy to install in our SUV (Mazda Tribute), and took approximately 5 minutes. It was so simple, the UAS made it easy to lock the seat in place and pull tight. We kept the headrest off as our son is still under the 2.5 cm below the top of the seat, as stated in the manual and we plan to keep him rear facing for as long as we can.
After using this car seat for quite a few weeks I have noticed that it is very easy to wipe up any spit ups on the shoulder straps and seat insert. Another plus is the winged insert makes it easy to hook the shoulder straps around it before and after putting your child into the seat so you don’t have to fuss with the straps every time.
We are very pleased with the True Fit car seat, its features and how well it has worked for us. Our son is happy when he’s in it and it’s comforting to know that this seat will last us until he’s old enough for a booster seat. – Liz, Staff Writer
