Load Legs: The Car Seat Feature You Never Knew You Needed

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Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

(But Totally Do!)

Picture this: You’re cruising down the highway, your little one snug as a bug in their car seat, when suddenly—WHAM!—you have to slam on the brakes. In that heart-stopping moment, wouldn’t you want every possible safety feature working to protect your precious cargo?

Enter the load leg: the unsung hero of car seat safety and game-changer for keeping our little ones safe on the road.

What in the World is a Load Leg?

The load leg — or stability leg, as some companies call it — is a support leg that extends from the base of a car seat to the floor of your vehicle. Think of it as a kickstand for your car seat, but way cooler and infinitely more important.

The load leg does exactly what its name suggests — it takes on some of the load (aka force) during a crash, reducing the energy transferred to your child. It’s like having a superhero sidekick for your car seat.

Load legs have been used in Europe for decades. We first saw a load leg on a US car seat about 20 years ago. Though the US market didn’t quite seem ready for it yet. They remained uncommon in the US until recent years.

The Science Behind the Safety

The science behind load legs is pretty fascinating. In a frontal collision, which accounts for about 50% of all crashes, here’s what happens:

Without a load leg: The rear-facing car seat moves forward toward the front of the car while also rotating downward, becoming more reclined as the vehicle seat compresses. The more the seat reclines the more the child slides up in the car seat. This increases the force on your child’s neck and shoulders. Not good.

With a load leg: The leg prevents the car seat from rotating, or reclining, during a crash. This keeps the child better positioned in the car seat and the car seat absorbs more of the crash energy, reducing forces on your little one’s neck and shoulders. Much better!

It may seem like a load leg reduces the ride-down of a crash that stretch in seat belt or LATCH straps and some movement of the car seat allow for. Ride down is the time that it takes your body to come to a complete stop in a car crash. Safety features like crumple zones, seat belts, air bags and car seats help increase ride down time to reduce your chances of injury. But load legs have been shown to improve overall outcomes.

Tests by Consumer Reports found that load legs can reduce the risk of head injury by a whopping 43%! “It allows for crash forces to be absorbed more so by the car seat and load leg, and less crash energy to be transferred to your child occupant,” said Emily Thomas, Ph.D., of Consumer Reports.

But Wait, There’s More!

Stability legs aren’t just one-trick ponies. They also reduce rebound in frontal crashes.

Ever seen those crash test videos where the rear facing car seat bounces into the back of the vehicle seat after the initial forward movement? That’s rebound. And that’s why the back of the seat is cushioned. (People not in a car seat rebound after the initial forward movement into the seat belt too.) Rebound is not generally concerning and doesn’t generally result in injury.

You may ask how it can reduce rebound if the car seat is rebounding away from it.

Let’s start with Newton’s 3rd Law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Without a load leg the car seat moves forward and rotates down then bounces back or rebounds. With a load leg, the car seat’s forward rotating motion is significantly reduced thereby reducing the amount the car seat rebounds.

You can see in this comparison video by Clek, the reduced motion toward the front of the car and the reduced amount of rebound with the load leg versus without one.

With or without load legs

Remember, in the US all car seats have to be able to meet certain performance requirements. So it’s OK to use a car seat without a load leg. As long as a car seat meets FMVSS 213 standards, it’s considered safe.

Car seats with load legs go above and beyond these standards. Interestingly enough, the crash test sled does not have a floor so stability legs cannot officially be included in federal testing. (NHTSA won’t add a floor because, apparently, the organization doesn’t think caregivers will use the load leg feature.) So manufacturers must add a floor piece to the sled for “extra” crash testing.

Car seats with load legs also have to be tested without it in use and have a storage area for them to be stowed when not in use. So if your car is not compatible you don’t have to use it, but if you are going to spend on a seat with a load leg, hopefully, you can use it.

Download our report: Common Car Seat Mistakes and How to Fix Them

The Downside

There are a few potential drawbacks to this car seat feature:

Cost:

Car seats with load legs tend to be pricier. But there are some more budget-friendly options. And, can you really put a price on peace of mind?

Compatibility:

Not all vehicles play nice with load legs. Some have underfloor storage compartments that aren’t strong enough to support a stability leg. Or have humps in the floor where the center floor is raised up and the load leg can’t go short enough to be used.

Some vehicle seats are not deep enough for car seats with load legs that require the whole seat contact the vehicle seat. The opposite may also be the case, a deeper seat and a too short car seat base.

Remember, always (and I mean ALWAYS) read your car seat manual and your vehicle manual. It’s not exactly thrilling bedtime reading, but it’s crucial for proper installation.

Length of Use:

Many infant carriers, which most seats with load legs are, go up to 30 pounds in the hopes of keeping your child rear-facing up to age two in that seat. I don’t know how anyone would carry a child in an infant carrier at that weight. But that’s kind of beside the point.

And Consumer Reports recommends moving to a rear-facing convertible seat by the child’s first birthday. “With approximately 75 percent of the infant seats tested, the test dummy moved outside the protection of the car seat and its head made contact with the simulated front seatback—even with a load leg,” Consumer Reports says.

While there are some convertible car seats with load legs, mostly this feature is available on infant carrier bases.

How to Use a Load Leg

Using a load leg isn’t complicated. Again read those manuals.

There are a few key things to remember:

• Extend the leg: Make sure it’s touching the floor of your vehicle.
• Check that the car seat is still flush on the vehicle and not being lifted by the leg.
• Check that the leg is locked in position. Most have a visual indicator.
• Avoid underfloor compartments: As mentioned earlier, these aren’t strong enough to support the leg.

The Future is Now

As car seat technology continues to evolve, load legs are becoming more common and more advanced. Some now have indicators to show when they’re installed correctly, while others automatically adjust to the perfect length.

On what seats can you find load legs?

Let’s dive into some of the top car seat brands that offer load legs. Remember, though, the “best” car seat is always the one that fits your child correctly, installs properly in your vehicle, and that you’ll use correctly every time. That said, here are some stellar options:

• Clek Liing
• Cybex Cloud G Lux
• Cybex Sirona (Convertible car seat option)
• Evenflo LiteMax
• Graco Premier SnugRide SnugFit 35 XT
• Nuna Pipa, Pipa Lite, Pipa LITE LX and RX
• Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 4-35 Lounge and Nido
• UPPAbaby Aria
• UPPAbaby Mesa Max

Before shopping for a seat with a load leg, check your vehicle’s manual.

The Bottom Line

Load legs are are not just another bells-and-whistles feature designed to part you from your hard-earned cash. The feature is a genuine safety innovation that can make a real difference in protecting your most precious cargo.

So the next time you’re in the market for a car seat, give some serious thought to models with load legs. Your future self (and your little one) will thank you.

And hey, even if you don’t end up with a load leg car seat, the most important thing is that you’re using a car seat correctly every single time. Because at the end of the day, the safest car seat is the one that’s properly installed, properly used and used consistently.

By Amie Durocher, Creative Director at Safe Ride 4 Kids and certified CPS Tech since 2004

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