5 Best Rotating Car Seats
Being able to buckle your child in correctly keeps them safe in their seat, and this new gear option helps.
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A rotating car seat is the latest iteration to consider when shopping for your child's safety seat. The car seat turns to face you as you stand at the door. You can buckle your baby or toddler into the seat while they look at you (versus, as one Reddit poster wrote, dumping your child in sideways like a sack of potatoes) and once they are safely strapped in, you turn the seat so your child is ready to ride.
Our top picks:
- Best Overall: Cybex Callisto G 360 Rotating All-in-One Car Seat
- Best Value: Graco Turn2Me
- Best Convertible: Chicco Fit360
Rotating car seats are big, weigh about 30 pounds, and some can be a bear to install. They're all fairly new, without tens of thousands of reviews. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) does not yet list them as a car seat "type." At the Good Housekeeping Institute, our parenting experts still like starting with an infant car seat because it snaps off the base with your newborn inside, making it easy to carry your young baby around. But from there, a rotating seat can be a next great purchase.
Pros
- All-in-one seat works from birth to big kid
- Includes a canopy for the infant months
- Reclines in all positions, even booster mode
- Parents report it being comfortable for kids
Cons
- Testers were not keen to use the app
The basics: We love the thoughtful details on this long-lasting, all-in-one car seat that could be the only car seat you ever need. Senior Reviews Writer & Analyst Olivia Lipski has been using this with her daughter, now 2, and praises its comfort and ease of use.
Why I like it: Most birth-to-booster car seats lack an infant canopy. This Cybex has that and more: The canopy is easily removed after babyhood, the seat reclines in all positions (even booster mode!), it comes with two cupholders, and it's easy to rotate all the way around for simple loading and unloading from any position.
Use it from birth to elementary school with its rear-facing, forward-facing, and booster modes. When we tested this with consumer families, one told us, “We have installed many car seats, and this was by far the simplest to install and to swivel!” Another described it as “comfy, luxe, and very sturdy.”
Most testers did not use the app that can pair with the seat, or they downloaded it but ditched it. One said that they felt reports on, for instance, the car's internal temperature "seemed a little excessive."
RELATED: The Strollers and Car Seats That Make Parenthood Easier
| Rotation | 360 degrees |
| Rear-Facing Limit | 40 lbs |
| Forward-Facing Limit | 65 lbs |
| Booster Limit | 120 lbs |
| Seat Weight | 33.5 lbs |
Pros
- Under $400
- Becomes a booster that holds a child up to 100 pounds
- Extra plush infant insert
- A few fun colors
Cons
- Rotational feature is only for rear-facing babies
The basics: Under $400, Graco's seat has a 180-degree turn. You can spin it toward you for easy loading during the years that your baby rides rear-facing and weighs under 40 pounds. Once they are a larger kid and ride forward, this becomes a stable forward-facing seat and then a booster but no longer rotates.
Why I like it: Graco consistently makes car seats that impress and win Parenting Awards. The Turn2Me has much of the same look and feel as the brand's other bestsellers, such as the Extend2Fit. The harness straps can be tucked out of the way during load-in and the harness and headrest adjust to any of 10 positions while the seat has four reclines.
You can get a tight, safe installation using a seatbelt with the Turn2Me. The Graco SnugLock system is under the seat. That means you'll reinstall the seat when your child makes the move from rear- to forward-facing.
This seat comes in the standard gray and black but also some fun color options, like a lilac and a blue. It's got an extra-plush infant insert that you use until your newborn's shoulders are above the lowest harness setting.
| Rotation | 180 degrees |
| Rear-Facing Limit | 40 lbs |
| Forward-Facing Limit | 65 lbs |
| Booster Limit | 100 lbs |
| Seat Weight | 30 lbs |
Pros
- Turning feature works for rear- or forward-facing
- Tight and easy one-time installation via seatbelt
- Large range of headrest and recline positions
- Unique and useful accessories
Cons
- Will not become a booster
The basics: The Fit360 has a 360-degree spin so you can use the turning feature whether your child rides rear- or forward-facing. The Fit360 does not have a booster mode; that's the brand's OneFit.
Why I like it: The base easily installs with a seatbelt through a system Chicco calls LeverLock. You open a hatch in the backrest of the base, thread the seatbelt through and then shut the hatch for a tight installation. (Watch this video for all the installation tips, including parking your car on a level surface, using the attached key to pop the seat off the base, and using the top tether in both the rear- and forward-facing years.) One installation is all you need and then it's good for either seat position. We gave it one of our previous Parenting Awards.
A buckle at the crotch tips forward and the harness clips can be stored out of the way so you don't accidentally sit your baby on the buckles. The harness snaps closed with the help of a magnetic chest clip and there are 15 headrest/harness positions and six reclines.
No rotational seat is slim but the Fit360 is a smidge more narrow than others. Amazon's version is sold with a crash-tested baby mirror that mounts to the seat in the rear-facing position. Chicco can also sell you an extra base so you can move the seat between two cars.
| Rotation | 360 degrees |
| Rear-Facing Limit | 40 lbs |
| Forward-Facing Limit | 65 lbs |
| Booster Limit | N/A |
| Seat Weight | 31 lbs |
Pros
- Can stay rear-facing until your child is 50 pounds
- Easy installation, though you have to reinstall for the forward-facing position
- CoolMax fabric is comfy, especially in warm climates
- Easy to rotate
Cons
- Only swivels from the rear-facing position
The basics: NHTSA asks parents to keep a toddler rear-facing as long as possible, ideally to age 3, 4, or even 5. But most rotational car seats have a rear-facing weight limit of 40 pounds. The City Turn can stay rear-facing until your child weighs 50 pounds.
Since this only has a 180-degree turn, only rotating to face you for loading and unloading while your child is using the rear-facing position, it's helpful that you can keep it rear-facing longer.
Why I like it: The fabric on this is unique; Baby Jogger calls it CoolMax and it's kind of like cooling sheets in that it won't add to your passenger's body temperature. The rotating mechanism is among the smoothest; this is also the lightest on our list by a pound or two.
You thread your car's seatbelt through the base of this and it locks tight with the brand's RapidLock system, which testers found easy to use. (Here's the video.) You will have to reinstall the City Turn when you're ready to make it forward-facing; there's a different belt path for that.
| Rotation | 180 degrees |
| Rear-Facing Limit | 50 lbs |
| Forward-Facing Limit | 65 lbs |
| Booster Limit | N/A |
| Seat Weight | 28 lbs |
Pros
- Very easy to turn this car seat
- Many recline and headrest positions
- Babies sit high up
- Magnetic holds to keep the buckles out of the way
Cons
- Luxury priced
The basics: You can spin Nuna's 360° car seat easily with just one hand, letting you buckle in your child and then position them facing forward or to the rear with ease. It is convertible seat for use from birth to 65 pounds.
Why I like it: You can also recline the REV maxx in either direction and adjust the headrest to any of 11 positions. Testers raved about the seat. “I am short and drive a tall car, so getting my large 5-month-old in was getting difficult. The swivel of this seat is game changing,” said one mom. Another noted, “My baby sits high in this car seat and enjoys seeing through the window.”
There are magnetic holds to keep the buckles out of the way so you can get your kid in easily. "Such a small thing that makes such a huge difference," a parent said.
| Rotation | 360 degrees |
| Rear-Facing Limit | 40 lbs |
| Forward-Facing Limit | 65 lbs |
| Booster Limit | N/A |
| Seat Weight | 31 lbs |
How we test rotating car seats
We've evaluated dozens of car seats in the Good Housekeeping Institute, looking at the installation guides, fabrics, harness and recline adjustments, quality of the hardware, and overall size and weight. But our best data comes from our consumer testers who use car seats with their children and share their experience with us. We also have parents who work in our Lab who test car seats for us with children of various ages and in a rang of vehicle types.
Rotating car seats are still new and so there's not a lot of data on real-world use or even guidance from car seat experts. That's in strong contrast to, for instance, infant car seats, which our Lab has been collecting data on for nearly a decade. As of press time, NHTSA only has "ease of use" ratings for a few rotating seats in its search by brands tool. We expect more opinions to come out in the next few years while we're collecting more data of our own.
How to shop for the best rotating car seat
We recommend that you pay attention to these two things:
✔️ Rotation: A rotating car seat with a 360-degree swivel means the turning feature works in both the rear- and forward-facing positions. If you buy a seat with a 180-degree swivel, that one will only turn as long as your child is riding rear-facing.
Realistically, those baby years can be the toughest, so only having the seat rotate from rear-facing might be okay by you. But if you're considering a rotating car seat for a 1-year-old, we recommend buying one that turns 360 degrees so you can use it through the preschool years.
✔️ Longevity: Some of these swiveling car seats turn into booster seats, which can then last into your child's school-age years. But that's not a total dealbreaker; the truth is booster seats don't always cost a ton of money to begin with.
Are rotating car seats safe?
A rotating car seat has to pass all of the same safety tests as any other car seat, including crash testing. People within the industry are hopeful that rotating car seats could, in fact, prove safer than traditional seats if they make it easier for parents to buckle their child in correctly.
Joshua Dilts, Chicco car safety product manager and a Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST), told us that Chicco's survey of more than 1,300 parents showed that getting a child into their car seat and buckled was a significant everyday hurdle. "Parents are securing their child into their car seat multiple times a day with many opportunities for misuse. By making it easier and less stressful to secure infant and toddlers within their car seat correctly, children will be better protected," says Dilts, a father of three.
"What I found, personally and anecdotally and in our studies, is that a rotating seat makes not only makes the process much easier for both parent and child, but also it’s also more enjoyable," Dilts says. "When the harnessing process is more natural, and when the child and parent face each other, it becomes much easier to secure a baby correctly."
How does a rotating car seat work?
The seat swivels on its base so your child faces you when you're buckling them in or taking them out. Rotating car seats can work either behind the front passenger seat or behind the driver seat—regardless of which spot you choose, the seat will swivel to face the car door. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to install a rotating seat in the middle of the back seat, as then you'd be leaning way over to use it, but theoretically you could.
Pros and cons of a rotational car seat
Pros: Being able to turn your child to face you makes buckling them in a whole lot easier. Leaning in and buckling your child sideways is not just tough for tall or small parents, or parents with a bad back. It's tough for everyone! Rotational car seats can make the whole experience of getting your child in their car seat easier on you, and perhaps both safer and more pleasant for your kid.
Cons: These seats are big. If you have a very small sedan, a rotational car seat might not work in it. Rotational car seats are not slim, so there's not a lot of hope of fitting three across.
If you're a new parent and want a car seat stroller combo, we get it. It's so easy to attach an infant car seat to your stroller! But there is no travel system that takes a rotating car seat, or any convertible car seat. Rotating car seats are meant to stay in your car and are not highly portable.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
Contributing Writer Jessica Hartshorn is a journalist who has been covering the juvenile-product market for 26 years, first for American Baby magazine and then for Parents magazine before joining the Good Housekeeping Institute. She's also a mom of two.
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