3 car seats in a row?

[Itsychik]

Is there anyone here who has successfully found 3 car seats that will fit next to each other in the back seat of your car? We're having trouble with this and I'm wondering what other families with 3 or more children do?

Thanks!

 

[.Mrs.B.]

I found that I can fit a slim backless booster seat in the middle of my two kids high backed seats when taking their friends out.
I was actually wondering this to myself... I know high back seats are recommended for side impact protection but if you have a backless seat in the middle of two high back seats surely the high backs would offer some side protection for the middle seated child?
Your eldest is 5.5 so I'm guessing he would need a seat that requires using the cars own seat belt either way.

 

[lau86]

We have a ford galaxy so it is a big car. We have a joie stages, maxicosi mobi (both erf seats) and a britax high back booster in the middle. All are wide seats so I can only think our back seat is really wide

 

[xdxxtx]

My OH has a Chevrolet Equinox, and a booster, a front facing and a rear facing will fit but BARELY. I'm assuming this is your car seat configuration right now. I would ONLY allow OH to take the kids in that car in the case of an emergency. When we had 3 kids, we got a Honda Odyssey, which fit 3 across. My kids were 2 1/2, 11 months and a newborn when my third was born, and they were all rear facing in it, and it fit just fine. We actually split 2 car seats up so they were on either side of the car and put my oldest in the third row and accessed his seat from the trunk. It was just easier to reach.

When my fourth was born, it was a pain because we had no trunk space anymore since my mom now lives with us and rides in the car with us. I now have a Mercedes Benz Sprinter. It's a big 12-seater van with a huge trunk (and headrests, which those "Church vans" don't have, and I'm not willing to risk my kids' necks later on. I plan on keeping this one forever, and I LOVE it.

So here's my advice. If your oldest can buckle himself into their seats safely, and you might have more kids, I'd look into the Honda Odyssey. It was a great car. I have had my current van for a little while now, and although it's nice and comfy and very spacious, I still really miss my Odyssey. I recommend the Odyssey to everyone who comes to me saying, "I'm having my third! They won't fit in my car! What do I do?" I get asked that a lot. hahaha. If I didn't think I was gonna have 5 kids, I would have kept the Odyssey. I'm still mourning it.

 

[minties]

I have 3 seats across, but I have a large Australian car.

 

[gingajewel]

We have a seven seater grand scenic and it fits three normal size car seats in the back

 

[george83]

We fitted a group 0 on an isofix base, a group 1/2/3 seat and a backless booster in our Astra, but then that got written off so we went for a ford s-max which has 3 individual seats in the back as opposed to a 'bench' seat

 

[Vickie]

Radian will fit three across here but that's for the car seats. We have a Radian Monterey booster and it's bulkier than my daughter's carseat was. I think we could get three across still though as long as my son's radian was in the middle (he is still in a 5 point harness and his seat is very narrow). We drive a fairly small car but only have the two kids.