Clek Liing

What we like and what concerns us

Good

• Consumer Reports: Best crash protection, overall score 88, vehicle fit 5/5 with LATCH and with the belt.
• BabyGearLab (2023): head and chest readings lower than most seats; installation 9.0 with LATCH.
• Clek states all fabric options are "Flame Retardant Free and PFAS-Free" (manufacturer claim, not a lab result).

Caution

• Heavy: Clek lists the base at 17 lb, and CR notes a restricted handle position.
• CR: "Harness rethreading requires careful routing."
• Two 2021 recalls covered earlier production and were remedied; check your unit's manufacture date.

Explore materials & ingredients

Open a card to read the disclosure and its sources. Illustrations are conceptual; the recorded evidence below determines what is known.

Evidence at a glance

Independent crash tests

Consumer Reports and BabyGearLab run their own crash tests with different equipment, methods and scales. Neither publishes raw measurements, so we report each result in the lab's own terms and never combine them. Passing the federal standard is required of every seat and is not a comparative result.

Identity and generation notes

• CR's listing shows 4-30 lb, matching current production.
• Safe in the Seat, a site run by certified car seat technicians, lists a "meets new standards" Liing; Clek has not published what, if anything, changed.

Installation and specifications

Installation features and lab observations

• Rigid LATCH (Clek)
• Metal load leg with 13 height positions (Clek)
• Belt-tensioning plate for seat-belt installs (Clek; CR: "Tensioning plate makes belt installs easy")
• European belt path for baseless installs (Clek)
• Up to 7 recline positions, adjustable after installation (Clek)
• EPP foam energy-absorbing shell (Clek)
• Rethread harness: CR notes "Harness rethreading requires careful routing"

Features are as described by the manufacturer unless a lab is named. A feature's presence is not evidence of better crash performance on its own.

Federal compliance and recalls

Every seat sold in the US must meet FMVSS 213. The side-impact requirement, FMVSS 213a, applies from December 5, 2026. We did not find a side-impact (FMVSS 213a) statement on the manufacturer page we reviewed.

• NHTSA 21C006000 (Earlier production only): Canopy support could break; units made before September 15, 2020. Remedied with a free replacement part.
• NHTSA 21C007000 (Earlier production only): Labels could bubble and come apart; units made before February 22, 2021. Remedied with a free replacement cover or insert.

Check your own seat by its model number and manufacture date at nhtsa.gov/recalls, and register it with the manufacturer so recall notices reach you.

Materials and chemical claims

• “All fabric options are Flame Retardant Free and PFAS-Free.” (Clek, manufacturer statement)
• “Mammoth Ziip option: made with natural materials, including non-mulesed merino wool.” (Clek, manufacturer statement)

Clek names both flame retardants and PFAS. These are manufacturer statements; no product-specific lab test was located.

“Free of added flame retardants” means the manufacturer says none were added on purpose. It is not a lab result showing none are present, and no seat on this page has published independent chemical testing.

Price and availability

Prices and stock change often. Price and retailer availability play no part in the verdict.

How this verdict changed

Before the September 23, 2026 re-audit: Recommended, evidence grade A. Now: Recommended, evidence grade A.

Re-verified: both labs rate its crash performance well on a matching model, and installation evidence is strong. The prior page showed CR's Overall Score (88) as a "crash-protection score"; it is now labeled correctly.

What would change our verdict

• Independent lab testing of the current fabrics for flame retardants and PFAS.
• A newer independent crash test of current production showing materially different results.

What we still don't know

• No product-specific laboratory test for flame retardants or PFAS was located; the fabric claims are Clek's own.
• BabyGearLab's test dates from October 2023.
• NHTSA Ease-of-Use ratings were not retrieved.

Sources

Every source below was checked on the date shown.

• Liing infant car seat, Clek. Accessed September 23, 2026. Current product name, limits, weights, installation hardware, price and material/chemical claims as stated by the manufacturer on the access date.
• Seat reviews labeled "Meets New Standards" (Clek Liing, Graco SnugRide Lite LX, SnugRide SnugFit LX, Premier SnugRide SnugFit XT), Safe in the Seat (certified child passenger safety technicians). Accessed September 23, 2026. Revised "meets new standards" (FMVSS 213a) versions of these seats are on the market; the pages do not say what changed.
• Clek Liing car seat review and ratings, Consumer Reports. Accessed September 23, 2026. Consumer Reports Overall Score 88; crash protection Best; ease of use 4/5; fit-to-vehicle 5/5 LATCH, 5/5 belt, 3/5 carrier-only; ranked 3 (tied) of 46 tested infant seats.
• Clek Liing review (crash tested), BabyGearLab. Published October 1, 2023. Accessed September 23, 2026. BabyGearLab overall 75/100 (2023-10-01); crash test metric 7.5/10 from a test commissioned at MGA Research. Sensor findings: The HIC and chest clip sensor data are lower than most seats (lower is better)
• NHTSA recall 21C006000: Child Seat Canopy Support May Pose Choking Hazard, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Clek, Inc.). Published December 1, 2021. Accessed September 23, 2026. Clek, Inc. (Clek) is recalling certain Liing, model number LG19U1, and Liingo, model number LGO20U1, infant child seats manufactured before September 15, 2020. A small plastic portion of the child seat canopy support may break and detach from the seat.
• NHTSA recall 21C007000: Label Can Come Apart and May Pose Choking Hazard, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Clek, Inc.). Published December 20, 2021. Accessed September 23, 2026. Clek, Inc. (Clek) is recalling certain Liing, model LG19U1, and Liingo, model number LGO20U1, infant child seats manufactured before February 22, 2021. The labels on the seat cover or infant insert may bubble up, allowing the labels to come apart into small pieces.