Which inexpensive car seat is the best for my 2 ,year old?

The American Academy of Pediatric (AAP) recommendations say that a properly used rear facing car seat is always safer than a properly used forward facing car seat. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children ride rear facing until they are at least 2 years old. Age 2 is a minimum guideline. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says to keep 1-3 year olds in a rear facing car seat for as long as possible, until the seat has been genuinely outgrown: http://www.safercar.gov/parents/RightSeat.htm

How much does your 2 year old weigh? I would recommend the Graco Size 4 Me 70 (also known as the My Size 70). It goes up to 40 lbs in the rear facing position and has the tallest height limits on the United States market. Once the child outgrows the rear facing position, then the seat is turned forward facing. It has about 18" top harness slots and a 70 lb forward facing weight limit. I realize that this seat isn't the cheapest on the market ($212) from amazon, however it will be the last harnessed car seat you will ever need to buy. The next step after a harnessed car seat is a booster seat and they are rather cheap (about from as little as $13.50 to $50).

http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php?p=2280638&pos...

Above links: Pictures of a child in the Graco Size 4 Me 70. This seat is outgrown rear facing when the child's head is less than 1 inch away from the red plastic piece.

The Diono Radian R120 or RXT model has a rear facing weight limit up to 45 lbs, but its shell is shorter than the Size 4 Me 70, meaning that it has lower height limits while rear facing. The Radian R120 or RXT model both go up to 80 lbs in the forward facing position.

If you are done rear facing your child, then I would recommend the Evenflo Maestro- it has 18" top harness slots and a 50 lb forward facing weight limit and costs about $80. Top slot height is important because when a child is forward facing, the harness straps must be positioned at or slightly above the child's shoulders. Having the harness below the shoulders on a forward facing child is very dangerous as it transmits the forces of the crash to the child's spinal cord.

Evenflo has just recently stopped making the maestro and replacing it with a car seat called the Evenflo Secure Kid 100- this car seat does have 18" top slots, but sadly forward facing, it only goes up to 40 lbs. So if you cannot find the Maestro, I would recommend the Evenflo SecureKid 300 or 400 model- it has tall top slots of 18" and a 65 lb weight limit with the harness and costs about $120.

Car crashes are the leading cause of both disability and death for children under 12 years old in the United States. Statistics show that more than 95% of child safety seats are used or are installed incorrectly. That is a huge misuse rate! This is why it is recommended to get you child's car seat checked by a child passenger safety technician (CPST). One can be found here: http://www.seatcheck.org/

Evenflo Maestro HARNESSED booster (there are other cheaper harnessed boosters which will be lucky to last you a year, so you would actually be paying more in the long run). This seat is about $50-75 at WalMart and should last to about age 5. A newer seat is the Evenflo SecureKids 300, costs about $100 but you might need to order this site-to-store at WalMart. This seat will get you through in a harness to about a 6 and then you can use just the seat belt for this seat (converts to a high back seat belt booster when harness is outgrown).

Best practice is to harness as long as possible for best safety. Those backless boosters are useless until over age 6 and 50 pounds.

If you have an inexpensive child, then buy an inexpensive car seat to protect her in an accident.

Personally, I would be shopping for the BEST car seat I could buy and forget the cost.

Only you can determine what your 2 year old's life is worth.