The best car seat is the one that fits your child, vehicle, budget, and lifestyle and has the features important to you. The safest car seat is the one you can install correctly and use properly on every ride! Let us know in the comment section what questions you have about this review of the Evenflo Shyft DualRide car seat. And if you want to compare car seats and let us help you find your recommended car seats, our Car Seat Buying Kits are your best bet!

Evenflo Shyft DualRide Car Seat Review (USA/Canada)

The Evenflo Shyft DualRide is a unique car seat that also functions as a stroller. As of today, the DualRide and the Doona are the only two infant seats on the market that have this feature — all other infant car seats have to be clicked into a separate compatible stroller. If you want to compare Doona versus DualRide, watch this. Here’s the Doona review.

The DualRide has the unique ability to detach the stroller wheelbase from the carrier, leaving you with a standard infant carrier! This car seat was designed to make traveling with a baby easier and more convenient, eliminating the need to carry around a separate stroller — but with the option to skip the stroller wheels, this car seat can truly transform into the most convenient solution for any situation. It’s an excellent option for busy parents who love the idea of a stroller and car seat in one.

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*Head to the Car Seat Buying Kits for a complete database of all car seat stats for our recommended car seats.

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✅ Seat is Good for You If:

✅ You frequently use Lyft/Uber/Taxis.

When using the DualRide in a taxi or rideshare, you’ll be ready to ride in two easy steps. Remove the rear wheels and add them to their designated spot for baseless installation and then install the infant seat baseless; you’re ready to go! When you reach your destination, it’s just as easy to keep on moving: you’ll unbuckle the car seat, reattach the rear wheels, unfold the stroller, and be on your way. You won’t need to unload a separate stroller and attach your infant car seat, so the DualRide will make loading and unloading a seamless experience!

✅ You travel often within the US and Canada.

If you are a frequent flier within the US and Canada, the DualRide is an FAA-approved car seat and one of the best for air travel. You’ll travel light without a base or a separate stroller, setting you up for a smooth trip with less gear.

✅ You don’t want to buy a separate stroller.

Maybe you’re unimpressed by trendy stroller options that are compatible with your car seat of choice, or you just don’t have the space for a full-sized stroller that can accommodate a newborn in a car seat or bassinet. Either way, the DualRide solves your problem! Use the DualRide for the first year or so, and then you can switch to something new — whether that’s a compact stroller that fits perfectly in your sedan’s trunk or even a wagon to cart multiple kids around in style.

✅ You are expecting a very small baby.

A newborn in the Evenflo Shyft car seat will fit no matter how big or small! The lowest harness height is about 4.5″, so the shoulder straps are sure to fit in the proper position on the tiniest of babies. This car seat is an excellent option if you’re expecting a small newborn or bringing home a preemie.

🚩 Use Caution If:

🚩You would prefer a lightweight infant seat.

This seat is heavy, so some parents may find it difficult to lift it in and out of the car with a growing baby inside. With the stroller wheels, you’ll be wheeling it most of the time when out of the car, but it’ll still have to be hoisted into the car, which might be challenging for some caregivers.

🚩You need a seat that is compact front to back.

This car seat takes up a lot of space front-to-back when it’s installed in the car. It won’t be the best choice for small backseats or for tall front-seat passengers.

🚩You intend to travel internationally.

Outside of the US and Canada, vehicle seatbelts typically don’t have the locking mechanism to lock the seat belt for car seat installation. You’ll need another way to lock the vehicle seatbelt: a locking clip or a car seat with a built-in lock-off. Since there’s no lock-off on the DualRide, you’d need a locking clip to use it outside of the US and Canada — but locking clips are cumbersome and challenging to use.

Depending on your destination, you may find vehicles that have lower anchors (also called ISOFIX). If so, this base can be installed with lower anchors instead of the seat belt. Watch this step-by-step video to learn how to use a locking clip and practice lots before your trip!

Contact the car seat manufacturer for a free locking clip.

️ Stand Out Features:

anti-rebound bar

The base of the DualRide has an anti-rebound bar (ARB), an added safety feature that can reduce the secondary movement of the car seat, called rebound, during a crash. When a crash occurs, the car seat will move forward, towards the front of the vehicle, and rotate downward. And as we all know from high school physics, every action has an equal and opposite reaction — so after that initial movement, the car seat will rebound, or “bounce back” towards the backrest of the vehicle seat. The ARB minimizes this bounce-back effect, helping limit the car seat movement and your child inside it! ARBs may also limit the side-to-side rotation of the car seat in a side-impact collision. Overall, they’re a great feature on a rear-facing car seat!

LockStrong arm on the base

The DualRide is an easy-to-install car seat thanks to Evenflo’s LockStrong arm found on the base. This mechanism tightens the seatbelt or latch strap to help you get a tight installation effortlessly! If installing with the vehicle seatbelt, you’ll still need to lock the seatbelt as your final installation step — the LockStrong arm doesn’t actually lock the belt for you. But this cool feature does make it super easy to get a rock-solid, tight installation every time, in no time!

Integrated, removable stroller mode

The DualRide has a truly innovative, one-of-a-kind stroller mode feature! You can use the car seat as a stroller with the integrated stroller wheels for quick trips — and for maximum flexibility, you can also remove only the car seat portion from the base while leaving the wheels behind! The integrated stroller is obviously noteworthy and eye-catching…and, of course, super convenient! But for times when you don’t want the extra weight of the stroller wheels, the carrier can be used alone or with the compatible Evenflo Shyft stroller. All these options make the DualRide unique and super adaptable!

European seat belt routing for baseless mode

This seat can be installed baseless with European or American/Standard belt routing. You can find a video showing both of those methods here. You can install it baseless with or without the stroller frame attached to the car seat. The European routing method is preferred!

SensorSafe chest clip

All versions of this seat come with the SensorSafe chest clip. This unique chest clip communicates with an app on the caregiver’s phone to provide four types of information: if the child is too hot or too cold; if the child has been buckled in for too long; if the chest clip is unbuckled; or if the child is still buckled in the car after the vehicle has been turned off. These alerts can bring major peace of mind!

Registering the seat gives you a lifetime warranty and free replacement in the event of a crash (Gold version only)

If you decide to go with this seat, register it! After registering the gold version, you have a lifetime warranty for this seat, and Evenflo will replace the seat for free in the event of a crash. If you don’t get the gold version, you should still register the seat so the manufacturer can alert you in the event of a recall.

▶️ YouTube Videos:

▶️Evenflo Shyft DualRide Installation Video

▶️Doona vs Evenflo DualRide Car Seat Review

▶️Best Infant Car Seats

▶️How to Install a Car Seat on an Airplane

⚠️ Quirks to Be Aware Of:

⚠️When using the base, the stroller frame must be attached.

The stroller frame only comes off the car seat’s carrier portion when it is in the base. The stroller frame will then be locked in the base until you reattach the carrier portion of the seat to it.

⚠️The stroller frame must be attached when used on an airplane.

This is a perk for most people. Why wouldn’t you want your car seat to be a stroller as you wheel it down the plane aisle?

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✈️ Airplane Use

The Evenflo DualRide is an FAA-approved car seat. This is an excellent option for domestic travel. The stroller frame has to be used for airplane installation, but you can likely roll it through the aisles of most planes. If traveling internationally with or without the base, you will need a locking clip. You can contact your manufacturer to get one for free, or you can buy this one. We have a video here of how to use a locking clip. For help with all things airplane travel and car seats, check out our Wheels Up Course and private Facebook group.

SITS Bottom Line

The DualRide is an excellent option for newborns of any size, including preemies! Overall, it is a great car seat, and its longevity, ease of use, and unique stroller mode make it stand out. The price point may be steep, but it represents the convenience and flexibility of a car seat and stroller in one. It’ll last most babies about 12 to 18 months before it’s outgrown, so you may need another stroller down the line — but by then, an inexpensive umbrella stroller can do the trick! If you ask us, this seat is a winner, and we’re very excited to see it added to the US and Canadian markets!

Other Versions of this Seat:

*A SITS recommended seat. Recommended seats are in our Buying Kits because they have ranked high on our vehicle, child, ease of use, and features scales.

Compare Car Seats

Looking to compare car seats and narrow down the best car seat for your family? The Infant Car Seat Buying Kit walks you through our 7Cs of selection, then on to an interactive quiz, and finally, a recommended car seat list is generated just for you! If you are overwhelmed and sick of spending hours researching and reading car seat reviews like this one, the Buying Kit will guide you to Safe in the Seat’s recommended car seats for you in under 30 minutes!

See on Amazon Live: Doona vs DualRide

We check every day for our recommended car seats on sale, and we have all the deals here for you. Shopping in Canada? Find today’s seat sales in Canada here.

What About Seats We Don’t Recommend?

Just like anyone, we have preferences! This goes for car seats, too. If we don’t recommend a car seat, it’s not because it’s unsafe for your little one. All car seats are safe if they’re installed and used properly, are not expired or damaged, and when they’re made and sold by a reputable manufacturer and/or retailer. Click here for our full list of car seats that we do not recommend.

A note about crash-tests

How does the Evenflo Shyft DualRide perform in crash tests? 

Well, that’s a great question. We know that it passes the strict federally required testing that applies to all car seats sold in the United States. But we don’t know exactly how it performs. That data isn’t released by any official sources in the US — not by car seat manufacturers, not by government agencies like NHTSA, not anywhere! 

There are a few third-party websites that claim to offer objective crash test data for a variety of car seats. But we at Safe in the Seat don’t pay attention to that data for a few big reasons. First of all, third-party crash tests don’t actually give us meaningful data! Car seat manufacturers crash-test their products hundreds, even upwards of a thousand times. They crash test the finished product in every single installation configuration using every applicable-sized crash test dummy, not to mention a whole lot of testing at each stage of the development process too. So one or two crash tests completed by another organization just can’t give the same level of information! One or two crash tests aren’t going to represent the overall average performance of any car seat across its lifespan.

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