Car Seats and Suvs

I have a Honda Pilot (2007) model and travel with my grandchildren a 3 year old in a car seat and 11 year old. Car seat fits well in middle, side or in 3rd row when needed. I work with Teen mom's and through the meetings I have learned that the middle is always the safest for the baby if only one..otherwise you do what you have to do...I will tell you that putting the new baby in the middle next to the older child can cause issues...

Good luck! I also had a highlander and loved it... the Pilot is a little roomier.

I also agree, take the car seats with you. On a side note, we had a car that we just couldn't get the car seat to get to sit "level" enough no matter what we did the way the seat was contoured. We didn't think of that when we bought the car and freaked when we realized and I took the car seat to a State Police Barracks and asked them what do I do to make this safe and legal, as safety of our child was our biggest concern. They told us to get a Wacky Noodle and cut it to fit underneath. I looked at them, a What? The State Trooper said to me, a Wacky Noodle, you know for in your swimming pool? It was perfect height and gave the right stablity and he said when they do car seat check points they have them in cruisers and cut them down to fit in cars. HTH.

The captain's chairs in the second row (2 individual seats in the second row) are just as safe as a bench. The added bonus is if you have benches both second and third row, then you don't have to move a car seat to access the third row. We have looked at third rows and mostly they are terribly inconvenient because how on earth are you expected to access the third row without removing a car seat and/or having your third row passengers crawl through the back hatch (arguably faster than moving a car seat)?

I also agree with taking your car seats for fit and test driving. It is amazing what you find out when you are lugging your actual car seats. Some of the benches don't accomodate a toddler seat and an infant carrier (nor two toddler seats) very well, depending on what exact seats you use. We found our entire back bench is taken up with the seats we use. There is no hope of fitting even a small child on the bench with our seats. Something we discovered when we test drove but were willing to accept anyway.

I don't have any particular recommendations because car shopping is a very personal choice in my opinion. Good luck in your search.

Any new car you purchase since 2003 will have the LATCH tether system making it safe to use a car seat in almost any rear seat. We have a minivan with bucket seats in the second row and have used both rear facing and forward facing car seats in them. Our minivan is a 2010 Odyssey. Here's more about LATCH: http://www.car-safety.org/latch.html

Strongly recommend taking the carseats with you when car shopping. Put them in the car and see how they fit. It's the only way to know for sure.

Chevy Traverse or Arcadia. Both great!

When you shop, take your car seats and try them in!

We just traded my Acadia for a Surburban. I LOVED MY ACADIA!!! It had the 2nd row captain's chairs--which was a requirement for us. We have 3 kids in car seats and wanted my 7 year old to be able to walk back to the 3rd row seats. (My new Surburban also has 2nd row captain's chairs).

You'll find many great SUVs that accomodate 2 car seats. I really like the new GMC Terrain and Chevy Equinox--they do not come with a 3rd row.

Depending on your budget, you might be better off getting something in the next few weeks. Many dealerships offer deals at the end of the year to get rid of that year's inventory--so they're trying to clear out the 2012 vehichles to make room for the 2013 vehicles.

Either way, you will probably have to put the seats behind the driver's seat and passenger seat. There may not be enough room to fit them side-by-side. My mom has a BMW X3 and when you put two seats in, there is only about 15" between them.

My sister does not like her Honda Pilot.

Happy Shopping!!

Your carseats are pretty much going to be safe in any car (unless you just can't make them fit).

I agree with Justwed. It's a good idea to bring the carseats with you when you look at the cars and make sure you'd be happy with the situation. But with all the regulations, I really wouldn't worry too much about them being unsafe.

We liked our Explorer. It has an option third row seat that you can use or use for cargo space. We had two car seats in the back but when #3 came we got the Expedition. The Explorer was too snug for my daughter to buckle her seat belt by herself. We didn't have the third row seat or we may not have updated. I will say the Expedition is bigger and I love the extra room.

We have an Acura MDX and we love it. While 3 adults can sit in the middle row, I don't think a car seat would fit safely or correctly in the middle seat. It has the latch for the outside seats and 3rd row seating. We have 2 kids and bought this to replace our Toyota Matrix that was too small with an infant carrier or rear facing car seat. Our MDX has worked great. We have fit 7 in the car. 2 adults in middle row w/1 big car seat (Britax frontier) on outside seat and 2 kids in 3rd row with a booster and we were all comfortable. =)

We needed to make sure we had enough room for the infant carrier and rear facing seat and took the kids and car seats to test them in all the suv's we were interested it. A lot of the middle row (even full size suv's) didn't have enough leg room for the infant carrier and the majority were eliminated due to that.