Contigo West Loop AutoSeal 16oz stainless steel travel mug, front view

Contigo AutoSeal West Loop (16oz)

Name: Contigo AutoSeal West Loop (16oz)
Brand: Contigo

Not recommended

America's #1 travel mug has a steel body, but the AutoSeal push-button lid and drink spout are all plastic with silicone seals - you drink hot coffee through an all-plastic valve.

The verdict: Minimal plastic contact

The West Loop body is vacuum-insulated stainless steel, but the AutoSeal lid - the entire reason to buy a Contigo - is plastic. You press a plastic button to open a spring-loaded plastic valve and sip through a plastic spout, sealed with silicone. Hot coffee flows over an all-plastic mechanism on every sip. Included as a corrective: it is one of the best-selling travel mugs in the US and reads as a "stainless steel mug," but the drink path is entirely plastic - and it is hot liquid, contact-heavy plastic at that.

Verification: Manufacturer confirmed · Last reviewed July 6, 2026

Lead safety: Lead found, not in contact path

Lead Safe Mama's reporting on Contigo insulated stainless steel bottles describes a lead-based sealing dot under the bottom cap on many Contigo double-wall insulated products, used to seal the vacuum layer - a construction method common across insulated steel drinkware, not unique to Contigo. The dot sits under the bottom cap, outside the drink path, and is only a concern if that cap comes loose or is removed. A separately tested Contigo Kids Tumbler with Straw came back non-detect for lead, cadmium, and arsenic, showing results vary by model. This exact West Loop mug has not itself been tested.

Verification: Community reported

lab-test https://tamararubin.com/category/contigo/
archive of Lead Safe Mama's Contigo testing, including a lead-free Contigo Kids Tumbler with Straw result
lab-test https://tamararubin.com/2020/07/this-is-what-a-leaded-sealing-dot-looks-like-on-a-stainless-steel-water-bottle-please-read-the-full-post-if-you-have-questions/
explains the leaded sealing dot construction found under the bottom cap of many insulated stainless bottles, including Contigo

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What it's made of

Part	Material	Food contact
mug body (double-wall insulated) vacuum-insulated stainless steel body; grade unspecified by Contigo	Stainless Steel grade unspecified	Yes primary
AutoSeal lid body and push-button valve spring-loaded push-button valve; BPA-free plastic (Tritan/PP-family)	Plastic other / unspecified	Yes primary
drink spout plastic spout you sip hot coffee through	Plastic other / unspecified	Yes primary
lid seals	Silicone	Yes seal

The Contigo AutoSeal West Loop is a mass-market favorite - often billed as America's #1 travel mug - built around the AutoSeal lid that seals itself between sips so it won't spill in a bag. You press a button to release a spring-loaded valve and sip through the spout; it's a one-piece lid that pops apart for cleaning. There's no lidless-sip option - the AutoSeal mechanism is the only way to drink from it. Convenient and genuinely leakproof.

Pros

Genuinely leakproof AutoSeal lid; insulated stainless steel body
Lid disassembles and is labeled BPA-free

Cons

Drinking is only possible through the AutoSeal mechanism - no lidless sip design
The push-button valve is fiddlier to clean than a simple lid

Notes

The steel body is real, but there is no way to drink that avoids the plastic valve

Categories: Travel Mugs & Tumblers

Sources

Every material claim above is backed by these. This is the scattered info we centralized.

manufacturer https://www.amazon.com/Contigo-AUTOSEAL-Vaccuum-Insulated-Stainless-Travel/dp/B00HZI5XNO
vacuum-insulated stainless steel body; one-piece BPA-free AutoSeal push-button lid
manufacturer https://www.contigo.com
AutoSeal push-button lid seals between sips; drink flows through the plastic spout and valve

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