Ok for forward facers; huge NO/never for rear facing
Not suitable for rear facing installation. I wonder how this passed regulations to be marketed and sold as rear facing. Don't try it. Not worth risking the life of your infant. Buy a more expensive Greco or Britix or Safety 1st (or anything please!) Please don't risk your rear facing child's life with this thing. It is impossible to tighten enough when rear facing to get the seat secure (design flaw of angles of strap) no movement is required & sadly not possible (at tightest install it still slid left to right about 1 or 2 inches and the back of the seat/head of the seat pitched forward (towards the back of the car) by ~5 or 6 inches. And this was with 2 large towels rolled up under the foot (as instructed in the manual) to get ~the proper level for rear use & at best level was not correct! For forward facing toddlers & preschool etc it is fine with 2 caveats of design flaws: (1) the buckle strap between legs is MUCH to short and the buckles stick out very wide. Results in buckles really digging into child's thighs. I have to dress my daughter in long pants, no shorts or skirts, with this car seat, otherwise the buckle scraps on her thighs & I pinch her (makes her cry) getting the buckles undone. If I forget and she has shorts on I am VERY careful buckling & unbuckleing & I try to slide a shirt or a papertowel between her thigh & the buckle so it doesn't dig into her skin. Just another ~half inch of strap would fix this. Can we get extenders? (2) The headrest juts out from the plane of seat's back, causing child's head to be pushed forward. Not an issue when 4-yr-old is awake, but when she falls asleep her head bobs forward and she looks so uncomfortable. Her head can not stay upright & back because there is not enough recline (forward facing) and her head is pushed forward by the headrest. I try to stop and tuck a sweatshirt under her chin/rest her head on sweatshirt when on long road trips and she's fallen asleep so her head is not bobbing
Customer review from Cosco Kids
You get what you pay for
Do not buy. This car seat is impossible to tighten securely. I worked with it for over 45 minutes. Trying to tighten the strap to secure it to the car. Button down, button not down, 200 pounds of weight in the seat, foot in seat. I just about ruined my seats trying to tighten this think in all directions possible. The seat still moves at least 6 inches in all directions and the strap is so loose you can swing it around. You can loosen it easily and tighten it back somewhat but there is no way to make this seat safe for a child. How it passed testing to get placed on the market i dont know. Its cheap made, and the only thing going for it is that its narrow. But is that really the only reason why you would pick this? Ive worked frequently with over a half dozen types and brands of car seats, infant, toddler, booster, convertable etc. Evenflo and graco work great. Ill never buy Cosco brand again. I now dont question the 200 dollars they charge for some seats. This seat isnt fit for a dog.
Customer review from Cosco Kids
Perfect car seat
We have had no issues with this car seat. My 23 month old is in the 99% in height and weight and she fits in it without any issue. We have used this car seat since she was 9 months and outgrew the infant seat. I have owned 4 total car seats by Cosco and recommend to friends and family frequently.
Customer review from Cosco Kids
Impossible to secure when rear facing
We purchased this seat because it is light weight and narrow enough for use on an airplane. It was intended to be a car seat in our second car. No matter how hard we tried, or who tried to install the seat, we could not a get a secure fit when it was rear facing in our car. We had to turn my daughter forward facing as soon as she turned 2 - which is generally considered unsafe. But I figure a secure forward facing seat is safer than a loose rear facing seat. Don't buy this unless you only intend to use it for forward facing. Someone's baby is going to be killed due to this poor construction. I won't buy another Cosco seat.
Customer review from Cosco Kids
Great Buy Safe & Secure
As my now 8 month old grows, I wanted him to graduate to a more reliable durable carseat. One that is fashionable, safe, light in weight and easy to install. I had an issue with adjusting the straps with the bottom hooks however with a little patience I fixed it to my liking. And my baby boy is comfortable. Love the cup holder too.
Customer review from Cosco Kids
Agree with the rear facing comments.
I turned my son Forward facing earlier than I would have liked due to terrible install on the seat RF. I just couldn't stop it slipping around.
Customer review from Cosco Kids
shame on cosco
As a nurse and a mother I am VERY disappointed in a company that would sell products this cheaply made and try to pass it off as infant safety. The latch straps were uneven so I had to use the belt restraint to even get it into my car. After HOURS of setting it up something still seemed off about it. To have it reclined properly rear facing there was a huge gap between the car seat and the seat. Doesn't seem very safe right? The instruction manual actually recommends putting a towel in your vehicle to make up for the space difference. Let me just say if you have to place a towel in the car to make the car seat balance correctly, it's probably not very secure! Every mom instinct I had was telling me not to put my child in this, but I figured I would try to strap my baby in. There was no safe way to ride with my child in this. The straps were CUT and ATTACHED at different lengths so no matter what you did one side was loose. Could you imagine what would have happened if I would have driven and gotten in a wreck in this thing?!? My baby would have literally either been thrown from the seat all together or would have suffered injuries from the strap that was ridiculously too tight. I didn't even harness her into it all of the way and it was digging into her neck. Needless to say I took the seat back and will be purchasing something that is actually safe for my child. Cosco needs to make some huge changes in their quality control department. Having loose and uneven straps in an infant seat is really just negligent on the company's part. I will be making sure that everyone I know never buys this product!
Customer review from Cosco Kids
buy graco
for rear facing, this required unhooking of the cover and threading the hook through. too much room for incorrect installation. product should be ready to plug in out of the box. i have graco in my car and it was ready to plug in. daughter bought this and hate it from the get go. best advertisement for buying from another company
Customer review from Cosco Kids