3 Child seats in the back

[cthompson12733]

Sold the idea of the PHEV to the mrs on the grounds that it was much bigger than our last car. But I am struggling to get 3 child seats in the back. Has anyone managed this with what they woukd consider success. I can get 3 in but its a right rigmaroll getting buckled up. Ages are newborn, 3 and 5. So theres a bulky rear facing britax jobby, middle is in a britax prince strap seat and eldest in a seat that fastens by seatbelt. I wobt put him in a booster until he is much bigger.

Finding it a very tight squeeze!

 

[user 816]

Sold the idea of the PHEV to the mrs on the grounds that it was much bigger than our last car. But I am struggling to get 3 child seats in the back. Has anyone managed this with what they woukd consider success. I can get 3 in but its a right rigmaroll getting buckled up. Ages are newborn, 3 and 5. So theres a bulky rear facing britax jobby, middle is in a britax prince strap seat and eldest in a seat that fastens by seatbelt. I wobt put him in a booster until he is much bigger.

Finding it a very tight squeeze!

Have you considered putting the 5 year old on the front passenger seat and your wife sit in the back with the other two, maybe not ideal for adult conversation I know. A front facing child seat is not a problem with a passenger airbag.

 

[Fragge]

Have you considered putting the 5 year old on the front passenger seat and your wife sit in the back with the other two, maybe not ideal for adult conversation I know. A front facing child seat is not a problem with a passenger airbag.

A front facing child in a booster seat up front can be a problem with the airbag. The airbag is designed to hit an adult in the chest/face region when deployed. A short person might only be hit in the face by the airbag bending the head backwards violently. Best is to disable the airbag with the key on the passenger side of the dashboard (visible when passenger door is open) when having children up front.

 

[karl]

The car should have been about 20 cm wider,
about 1998 mm as the Lexus model they obviously
peeked at when designing the car.

 

[slowrunner]

I remember a slight panic when I realised that my 'massive' 5 series touring could not fit 3 child seats across the back - in the end I found a fairly narrow booster seat for the oldest to use in the middle which allowed us to just get the 3 in.

Most of them have huge 'horns' to guide the belt around that make them quite wide. I dare say there is some compromise in absolute safety with a narrower one, but I was happy with it at the time. I got the keep the car which I've now owned for all their lives (oldest is now 16) but its soon to be replaced with a PHEV

 

[kabousie]

Sold the idea of the PHEV to the mrs on the grounds that it was much bigger than our last car. But I am struggling to get 3 child seats in the back. Has anyone managed this with what they woukd consider success. I can get 3 in but its a right rigmaroll getting buckled up. Ages are newborn, 3 and 5. So theres a bulky rear facing britax jobby, middle is in a britax prince strap seat and eldest in a seat that fastens by seatbelt. I wobt put him in a booster until he is much bigger.

Finding it a very tight squeeze!

You can get three car seats on in the back, but you need to ditch the Britax seats. I had Britax Evolva Group 1-3 but they are too wide. I went for the group 1-3 Mothercare seat and it fits perfectly. This should work for you but your situation is slightly different having the baby and the rear facing seat as these vary greatly in size.

 

[Hypermiler]

Hi there. I only have 2 kids, but the 3 year old is in a rear facing Swedish BeSafe iZi Kid ISOfix model - it is supposed to be safer to face backwards for as long as possible. My older daughter was just coming up to 4 years when she swapped to forward facing. Altho they are big (and not great for swapping between cars as heavy) and pricey, they give you some more shoulder room as they are widest just behind the front seat rather than along the back of the back seat. I know you already have a seat for your newborn, but it might be worth considering one which would last the baby from about 6 months to 4 years whilst giving the other 2 more leeway along the seat - until the oldest goes into a narrower booster. Might be worth looking at.

When we need to carry 5, we put the 6 year old in her big seat in the front and I ride in the back with 2 other kids. Most of my driving is done with me + kids so not too much problem to move an older one into the front.

Cheers
H