We’ve spent the past 10+ years creating car seats that offer best-in-class safety, from birth to booster. Along the way, we’ve had the chance to connect with families around the world, to better understand how they get from point a to point b. While designing Liing, our award-winning infant car seat, one emerging trend caught our interest: the growing group of families reducing their reliance on cars – or going carless entirely.
Our curiosity was piqued: we wanted to better understand what was driving their efforts to make the #carless life happen. We discovered motivations every bit as diverse as the families we met.
For some, it was about reducing monthly expenses to make maternity leave manageable. Others were striving to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by living more lightly. Some simply enjoyed the flexible, convenient options available in cities around the world – like ridesharing, transit or walking to avoid traffic altogether. Yet, despite their differences, we found one key similarity: their mobility needs weren’t being met by existing infant seats.
Up until now, infant car seats have been sold with the base included - a convenience feature for families with cars. However, they’re not convenient for carless families. Their weight makes them impractical and inconvenient to carry around, and they typically aren’t used when traveling. They add significantly to the purchase price of the safety system as a whole. They also use more raw materials, which means plenty of waste for families who don’t use them.
The opportunity for innovation was there, so we did what we’ve always done: rolled up our sleeves and got to work. Now, we’re proud to introduce you to the latest addition to our family.
Hello, Liingo
Liingo eliminates the base entirely, while maintaining the leading safety performance that Clek car seats have always been known for. Like Liing, it’s designed for installation using the European belt path method (in which the vehicle seat belt wraps around the back of the carrier). The European belt path allows for a more secure installation than the traditional American belt path and decreases the crash forces on a baby’s head and neck.
Industry expert Alisa Baer, M.D. and co-founder of The Car Seat Lady echoes, “In our experience installing thousands of car seats, a carrier without the base will install securely in almost any car in any country using the European belt path”.
Liingo shares a few other things in common with its sib-liing:
- It’s made in Canada.
- It’s compatible with all the same great stroller brands (using approved adapters) and has the same easy one-hand release.
- It weighs just 9 lb when you remove the detachable LATCH bin.
- It has the same two-piece shell and machine washable cover.
- It has a same peak-a-boo window and 100+ SPF 3-stage canopy.
- It comes in many of the same fabric options, including 100% merino wool that’s free of ANY added flame retardants.
- It can be recycled through our car seat recycling program.
- It has a 1+ 2-year warranty (when you register online within 90 days of purchase).
- It has a 9-year expiration date.
Unique to Liingo is its removable bin, which houses flexible LATCH connectors. This helps to ensure flexible installation options in the widest possible range of vehicles. With the bin removed, Liingo is lighter and can be used with the standard Liing base. Liingo is also more affordable than Liing with a starting promotional price of $199.99 in the US. Plus, it uses almost half the amount of plastic and steel - baseless is wasteless!
Liingo arrives this June and will be available to try in person at select retailers across Canada and the United States soon after. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for important news and updates – and follow us on social to learn more about the newest member of the Clek family!
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