How to Guestimate the Recline Angle
Following are common techniques for guessing at what angle a rear-facing car seat is. These methods are not fool-proof; rather they are tools to help you find an angle that will work for your child. Remember that a newborn should be as close as possible to a 45º angle be careful not to over-recline any rear-facing seat past 45º. The entire back of a rear-facing car seat bears the majority of the forces in a crash, protecting the child. If the seat is over-reclined, those forces get transferred to the child's shoulders and neck instead of the car seat. A newborn requires a 45º angle to help her keep her airway open; an older baby can and should be more upright as long as her head doesn't slump down onto her chest. If you recline your seat and your baby's head flops down onto her chest, the recline may not be enough. Please consult a certified child passenger safety technician for more help. Also, visit SafetyBeltSafe USA for more information on reclining a rear-facing seat.
What does a 45º angle look like?
Click to enlarge
Tips for Reclining a Rear-Facing Seat
- Read the instruction manual for your car seat and vehicle. Evenflo infant seats require 1.5" of space between a rear-facing car seat and the front seats. Some vehicles don't allow a car seat to touch a front passenger seat. The only way you'll know that is if you read the instruction manual.
- Use the car seat's recline feature before trying to install the seat.
- The base of the seat should be level with the ground (park on a flat surface). If your seat has a level indicator, it will give you a false reading if the base isn't level. However, it is more important to get the angle of the back of the car seat to 45 degrees for a newborn than to keep the base level with the ground. If the base of the seat slopes down with the cushion of the back seat, you may use a tightly rolled towel or up to 3 foam pool noodles to level the base (see the gallery below).
- If you own a Britax or Sunshine Kids Radian seat, you may use the tether when rear-facing to achieve the correct angle without a towel or noodles (see the gallery below). *Note: Only Britax and Sunshine Kids Radian seats are tested and approved for use with a rear-facing tether. Attempting to tether a rear-facing seat made by a different manufacturer may result in failure of the seat in a crash. Please don't use your child as a test dummy.
Method 1: Using Your Hand
Form an L with your hand and hold it so that you can see the car seat through your fingers. A 45° angle means the inside back of the seat is half-way reclined between fully upright and fully flat on its back.
Click to enlarge
Method 2: Using a Folded Piece of Paper
Step 1
Start with a piece of paper sized 8.5" by 11".
Step 2
Take a top corner and fold it down to the other side.
Step 3
Cut away the excess paper at the bottom.
Step 4
This is what the finished piece of paper will look like. I've indicated the angle measurements for clarity.
Step 5
Hold long edge of the triangle (side directly opposite of the 90º angle) directly against the inside back of the car seat. When the rear-facing seat is at 45º, the top edge of the paper will be parallel to the flat ground. Notice that this seat is a little more upright than 45º.
Gallery
One noodle in the vehicle seat bight.
Two noodles in the vehicle
seat bight.
Three noodles in the vehicle
seat bight.
Rear-facing infant seat installed with vehicle seat belt reclined to 45 degree angle with 2 noodles.
Rear-facing infant seat installed with LATCH reclined to 45 degree angle with 2 noodles.
Rear-facing convertible seat reclined to 45 degree angle with 2 noodles.
Rear-facing seat reclined to 45 degree angle with rolled towel.
Rear-facing Britax seat using rear-facing tether. For more help
with the rear-facing tether, click here.