Another vote for the Joie 360 here — it immediately improved things for us. A miracle!
If you’re comfortable with limited amounts of screen time (not everyone is, I get it - little brains), we also downloaded a few emergency episodes from BBC iPlayer onto a tablet/our phones. Hey Duggee, Balamory and Yakka Dee were good. Duggee hands down the winner at that age, or a little older!
We kept the volume fairly low and the screen brightness sensible. You obviously need a holder that straps really securely to the seat so it can’t become a projectile.
I was adamant I wasn’t going to use screens before 2, but eventually decided that, for us, a small amount of screen time in the car was preferable to her becoming genuinely overwhelmed and distressed every time we drove anywhere. She would cry until she choked.
At first, we put it on immediately upon getting in the car, before she had a chance to get upset. Over time, we saved it for really bad journeys, and over the weeks and months we were gradually able to remove it as a crutch. She’s 17 months now and has a really positive association with being in her car seat — in fact, the car is now one of our go-tos if we need to get her to sleep! I never thought I'd say that. So it definitely didn’t mean she needed a screen for every car journey forever.
Sending strength, and hope you find a solution that works for your family. It’s a really hard stage. It won’t last forever.