Radian Car Seat Rear-Facing Weight Limits Increased To 40 Lbs.

Good news for owners of Sunshine Kids Radian car seats - you may not need to buy a new seat if you'd like to keep your child rear-facing a little bit longer. According to Russ Berger at Sunshine Kids, the company recently did some additional crash testing and they're now increasing the Radian's rear-facing weight limit to 40 lbs. That makes the Radian the third car seat in the U.S. to have a 40 lb. rear-facing limit (the Graco My Ride 65 and the brand new Safety 1st Complete Air are the others).

Even better, Sunshine Kids is making the change retroactive on all U.S. models made in or after September 2008, so if you already own a Radian 65 (16500), Radian 80 (18500) or Radian XT (19500) car seat made after that time, you can go ahead and use it rear-facing to 40 lbs., according to Berger. The change will start to show up on new U.S. Radian car seat labels and in manuals by late summer or early fall.

A recent study showed that toddlers were more than 5 times safer on the road if they stayed rear-facing to age two. The increase in car seats with higher rear-facing weight limits and taller shells makes extended rear-facing well into the toddler years possible for most children.

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