woman buckling child into carseat

2019 Flame Retardant-Free Children’s Car Seats

Hazardous chemicals have no place in products that are in direct contact with a child’s skin and in their breathing zone. This is why the Ecology Center’s Healthy Stuff program has advocated for manufacturers to build car seats free of chemical flame retardants (FRs) for over 10 years. Within the past two years, multiple companies have released seats that answer our call. As of December 2019, we know of 16 FR-free seats on the market from 5 companies. At the Healthy Stuff Lab, we have tested at least one seat from each company making claims regarding FRs. For some, we have done additional testing at external, certified labs. Below is a list and a table of FR-free seats currently on the market. 

Brands offering FR-Free Seats

Note: For some seats, Healthy Stuff tested the whole seat; for others we tested the upholstery cover only (indicated by the word seat or cover, respectively, in the links below). The links go to the test results. This is information is also summarized in the table below.

Britax: Four seats. SafeWash™ FR-free fabric is available in the color/fashion, Otto, on three seats and in four colors (Drift, Eclipse Black, Plum, and Cadet) on their new all-in-one seat. In 2019 Healthy Stuff tested a Britax SafeWash cover

Clek: Four seats. Mammoth wool FR-free fabric is available on all four of Clek's seats. In 2018 Healthy Stuff tested a Clek Fllo seat with Mammoth fabric.

Maxi-Cost: Two seats. PureCosi wool-free fabric without flame retardant chemicals is available in the color, Onyx Bliss, on an infant seat and their all-in-one seat. In 2019 Healthy Stuff tested a Maxi-Cosi Magellan® Max All-in-1 seat with PureCosi Onyx Bliss fabric.

Nuna: Five seats. Nuna has introduced an almost full line of FR-free seats; all seats except its booster. These are available in their current colors. In 2018 Healthy Stuff tested a Nuna Pipa Lite seat in the color Fog.

Note: In 2018 Healthy Stuff tested a Nuna Pipa infant seat and found FRs. Since then Nuna has updated the language on their website regarding Pipa to indicate "Now from the fabric to the foam and beyond, each element is smartly sourced to be both flame resistant and contain no added fire retardant chemicals."

UPPAbaby: One seat. MESA™ infant seat, available in two FR-free colors or "fashions" (Jordan and Henry). There are other colors/ fashions of the MESA that are not FR-free. In 2018 Healthy Stuff tested a MESA Jordan seat.

2019 Flame Retardant-Free Children's Car Seats

SeatType

Company

Seat

Fashion/Color

Retail Price

Basis of FR-Free Claim*

Infant

Britax

Endeavours

SafeWash in Otto

$310

HS Tested Cover

Clek

Ling

Mammoth

$480

Manufacturer Claim +

Maxi Cosi

Mico Max Plus

PureCosi Onyx Bliss

$350

Manufacturer Claim +

Nuna

Pipa

Birch, Caviar, Frost, Granite

$300

Manufacturer Claim

Pipa Lite

Aspen, Caviar, Granite

$350

HS Tested Whole Seat

Pipa Lite LX

Aspen, Birch, Caviar, Frost, Granite

$400

Manufacturer Claim

UPPABaby

MESA

Henry, Jordan

$350

HS Tested Whole Seat

Convertible

Britax

Advocate ClickTight

SafeWash in Otto

$355

HS Tested Cover

Clek

Fllo

Mammoth

$430

HS Tested Whole Seat

Foonf

Mammoth, Winter Mammoth

$500

Manufacturer Claim +

Nuna

Rava

Caviar, Frost, Granite, Lake, Rose

$450

Manufacturer Claim +

Covertible All in One

Britax

One4Life ClickTight

SafeWash in Drift, Eclipse Black, Plum, and Cadet

$365

Manufacturer Claim +

Maxi Cosi

Magellan Max All-in-1

PureCosi Onyx Bliss

$450

HS Tested Whole Seat

Nuna

Exec

Caviar, Granite

$650

Manufacturer Claim

Booster

Britax

Grow with You ClickTight Plus

SafeWash in Otto, Jet

$330

HS Tested Cover

Clek

Obor

Mammoth

$350

Manufacturer Claim +

*Basis of FR-Free Claim column notes

HS Tested Cover: Healthy Stuff tested the upholstery cover only.

HS Tested Whole Seat: Healthy Stuff tested components of the entire seat.

Manufacturer Claim: Healthy Stuff did not test this seat. "FR-free" status is based on information from the company.

Manufacturer Claim +: "FR-free" status based on Healthy Stuff testing of a seat with the same fabric by the same company as well as information from the company.