Child Seat Configuration Questions

[EtoileBrilliant]

3 Children (5, 3 and 3 months). Wish to put 5 year old in passenger side third row, 3 month year old in rear facing 2nd row middle and 3 year old in driver side 2nd row forward facing.

Question, will the car seat in the middle of the 2nd row impede the 3rd row access? What other configurations are people using for 3 small children?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sbmrinaldi]

We have our 3rd on the way, but planned on having the oldest (6) in the 3rd row and the other 2 in the second row. The infant seat in the middle second row should not interfere with the access to the back if you enter from the passenger side.

 

[AlbertaMS3]

3 Across in a CX-9

I'm borrowing my husband's username because I'm too lazy to go make my own ...

I am Child Passenger Safety Technician - which means I checks carseats to make sure they are installed correctly in vehicles.

You can easily fit three across the back seat of a CX-9 if you want to go that route. You still have easy access to the third row when you need it because the seat track slides forward a good 5 inches allowing an adult enough room to slide behind the second row seat into the third row (this is with having the carseat installed in the passenger side middle row with LATCH so that no seatbelts get in your way while getting into the third row).

I took one out for a test drive yesterday and was able to fit two Sunshine Kids Radians (one forwardfacing, one rearfacing) and a Britax Marathon (rearfacing) across the middle row with no problems. I have also had two Britax Marathons and a Graco Snugride across the middle row as well.

What carseats do you currently have that you are trying to make work?

You can also visit www.car-seat.org and get a ton of useful info for fitting three seats across and making sure your children are restrained correctly. There are a lot of CPS Techs on that website, so you will get useful and correct information.

Hope that helps,
Jen, CPS Technician

 

[EtoileBrilliant]

Thanks to Both of You for Your Responses

Its great to know that the rear facing baby chair won't impede the movement of the seat movement. This is really the best of both worlds. My wife only has two comments regarding the seating.

Make sure I don't break my back putting the youngest in (hence the free seat in the second row) and if we need to use all three seats in the second row, make sure that we can get three car seats in.

We looked at the Grand Voyager (2 captains chairs) and Odyssey (centre seat will not take child seat). The Sienna comes close but is due for a facelift in 2008.

As regards which seats we have, we will purchase new ones with LATCH fittings for extra security.

Thanks once again

 

[slatm_p]

We purchased a 2007 CX-9 AWD in anticipation of the arrival of our 3rd child (she's now 3 weeks old). Her older brothers are 4 and 2.

We use the following configuration:

a) 4 year old in booster seat in third row passenger's side.
b) 2 year old in toddler seat in second row driver's side.
c) infant in second row passenger's side.

The infant base is attached with the LATCH anchors. We slide the passenger's side 2nd row forward before putting the infant seat on the base and that allows enough room for the 4 year old to get into the third row. It would be pretty tight for an adult to get through this space, in my opinion. The 4 year old also likes to climb in through the back - he puts the driver's side seat down, climbs in, puts it back up, gets in his booster and does up his seat belt all by himself.

Having the infant on the passenger side (as opposed to the middle) makes it easier to lift the infant seat in and out.

Note that I believe that there are only LATCH anchors for the outboard seats and none in the middle. The manual says that you can use the inboard LATCH anchor from each side to attach a seat in the centre, but then you cannot slide the seats (unless you move them at the same time), since one anchor will be on either side of the split.

 

[aciurczak]

We wanted to fit a rearward facing seat in the 2nd row center position, but it didn't work for us. Yes, you can use the latch system and the seat is held securely, but the rearward facing seat is so long that it caused the drivers seat to need to be much closer to the steering wheel than I am comfortable driving. We'll likely switch to the middle position once we can use a forward-facing seat.

 

[FikseRxSeven]

i have 2 kids, a 2 year old and a 3 month old

i found it hard to put the rear facing seat on the driver side because of the bulk of the child seat. I also did not see a point in putting the rear facing seat in the middle and lose access of the both 2nd row seat folding forward or sliding forward.

so in the end, i placed the rear facing in the passenger second row, and the toddler seat in the 3rd row driver side. this gives you a lot of room to put the larger kid in the back very easily. and if you want to put another kid in the other 3rd row seat, it isnt all that hard either.

this config gives mommy room to turn and attend to everyone from the 2nd row

 

[FikseRxSeven]

Its great to know that the rear facing baby chair won't impede the movement of the seat movement. This is really the best of both worlds. My wife only has two comments regarding the seating.

Make sure I don't break my back putting the youngest in (hence the free seat in the second row) and if we need to use all three seats in the second row, make sure that we can get three car seats in.

We looked at the Grand Voyager (2 captains chairs) and Odyssey (centre seat will not take child seat). The Sienna comes close but is due for a facelift in 2008.

As regards which seats we have, we will purchase new ones with LATCH fittings for extra security.

Thanks once again

unfortunately you are misinformed.

the rear facing seat will impede the movement of the second row. you will not be able to slide or fold the seat that the rearfacing seat is in.

 

[ZoomFive]

If you have two forward facing car seats in the middle row, you would need to slide the seat forward by grabbing the handle under the seat bottom and wedge into the third row without tilting the seatback forward, correct?

 

[Mazda Newbie]

We wanted to fit a rearward facing seat in the 2nd row center position, but it didn't work for us. Yes, you can use the latch system and the seat is held securely, but the rearward facing seat is so long that it caused the drivers seat to need to be much closer to the steering wheel than I am comfortable driving.

Has anyone been able to fit a rear facing Britax Marathon in the 2nd row CENTER?

 

[ZoomFive]

We wanted to fit a rearward facing seat in the 2nd row center position, but it didn't work for us. Yes, you can use the latch system and the seat is held securely, but the rearward facing seat is so long that it caused the drivers seat to need to be much closer to the steering wheel than I am comfortable driving.

Has anyone been able to fit a rear facing Britax Marathon in the 2nd row CENTER?

I have a few Marathons in a few cars. These seats are MUCH wider and taller than most others. The one rearward I have is on the passenger side in the 2nd row. I estimate that it will be very soon that I can turn it around to be forward facing. Can't wait to do that so the passenger front seat can move back a little. However, that works best for me. I did not try the middle position figuring the middle carseat would 1) make the outer positions in the 2nd row uncomfortable, 2) impede the whole possiblity of getting into the third row by sliding the 2nd row, and 3) impede the option of making more leg room for the 3rd row if someone were to go back there from the hatch.

Food for thought.

ZoomFive

 

[AreYouWithMe]

I have three kids (7, 5, 5) and got the CX-9 cause my 01 Accord's rear seat just wasn't cutting it anymore.

I folded the passengar middle seat flat and slid it all the way up. This gave the kids access to the rear seat. Since they are in boosters, they take turns in the various seats. This solved the problems of access to the third row.