Graco Snugride 32

The Graco Snugride 32 is a safe, rear facing infant car seat that is top rated by leading consumer magazines and publications.

The car seat has been rigorously crash tested to meet or exceed U.S. safety standards, including side-impact testing, to help keep your baby secure up to 32 pounds and 32 inches tall.

From the numerous infant car seats I have looked at, most companies seem to have maximum weight limits of around 20 pounds, and this particular model has an additional 12 pounds for you to work with.

Graco Snugride 32 – Is LATCH Equipped

The Graco Snugride 32 is latch-equipped, standing for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH), a way to secure a child safety seat – rear facing or forward facing – to a vehicle without the vehicle’s seat belts. Most child safety seats and vehicles manufactured after Sept. 1, 2002 are required to have LATCH systems.

If you find your car older, installation is still rather simple, as the base has a built-in clamp that helps hold the seat belt more tightly in place, thus keeping the whole thing locked down more securely. Also, the seat has a five-point, fully adjustable harness system that keeps baby safe and secure while you go about your business.

Additionally, it has a great front harness adjustor strap. Just place your baby in the cart seat and put his or her extremities in the harness, click the buckles into place, and pull the strap tight.

Best to Use A Rear Facing Infant Car Seat

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that an infant remain rear-facing in a car seat until age 2, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat. A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention showed that children under age 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear facing.

Studies have found that a rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash, because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body.

The Graco Snugride 32 is designed to be rear-facing with a stay in the car base that has a one-hand dial adjustment to ensure the proper installation angle, and an integrated belt lock-off. The handy level indicator ensures proper installation.

Graco Snugride 32 Has EPS or Expanded Polystyrene Foam

The Graco Snugride 32 also comes with a removable infant head support and EPS, energy absorbing foam. EPS is a lightweight and resilient foamed plastic designed to help absorb the impact of any sort of collision.

Injuries may occur when crash forces make contact with your child. Energy absorbing foam is used to absorb some of those impacting forces, keeping your child from absorbing them and therefore minimizing injury.

The energy-absorbing foam deforms during a crash when your child makes contact with it. At the point of contact, the foam crushes; the energy required to crush the foam is absorbed by the foam instead of your child. The foam also acts as a barrier between your child and the seat shell and any other intruding objects such as the vehicle door or window.

I hope this brief article on Graco Snugride 32 has been helpful.