3 car seats in 2005 ford focus

[MaryAnnTheDasher]

Hi, just wondering if anyone currently has a ford focus with 3 car seats in the back? I have 4.2 year old (he can go in a booster cushion), a 2.2 year old, and a baby due in a couple of months. I've been around the houses looking for slimmest this and slimmest that, but am yet to buy and try anything. Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks.

I have a Ford Focus and we can just about squeeze 3 in the back with one main seat and two boosters, but it does require a bit of manipulation to get the seat belts done !

Thanks Rookie, i presume your 2 eldest are both older than mine? I don't think it's legal for my (will be) 2.6 year old to be in a booster unfortunately!

I've got a 2004 Focus and have two Group 1 car seats (a Maxi Cosi & a Britax so not the smallest) and a booster seat in the middle. Doable though fiddly to get the seat belt done up / undone on the booster. I don't think you'd get a wide child on the booster though as the head protection bits of the car seats encroach on the space.

We've just got the one ourselves MaryAnn, but I have three in the car when doing the enjoyaball run, so three boys aged 8 (although I cheat these days and have one in the front).

Is it legal to have a 4.2 year old on a booster seat only?

Yes Rookie from what I've been reading it is, although i was a bit mmmm myself. Will have to make sure I'm 100% on that before the baby comes, although looking more and more likely we're going to have to get a new car i think :-(

IMO you should be fine, we had a 3dr 2006 focus when dc3 was born, ds was 4, dd1 was 2. The britax babysafe was the best fitting infant carrier alongside other seats, the handle sits further back than on our previous maxi cosi so it didn't need as much space. Ds had a cybex solution x hbb, dd1 had a kiddy infinity pro. Both of those are fairly bulky and they were an easy fit in the focus. In hindsight I think the belts were much easier to do in a 3 door as you're approaching them from in front rather than reaching round, I find it harder now with 5 doors and two in hbb.

The britax adventure and jane montecarlo are slim hbb at 43cm. Many forward facing stage one seats are a very comparable 43-44cm, what you already have may be fine unless it's a 123 like the evolva in which case it will be too wide.

Dc3 is still rf at over 2, if I was buying a whole new set of seats (I'm not sure if that's what you need to do or not) then I would buy a rear facing one for the 2y old also, especially now there are more affordable stage one rf seats.

I have a 2007 focus estate and I went to the brilliant Essex In Car Safety Centre, where they managed to fit 3 seats in the back of my ford focus:

On the rear driver side: Maxi Cosi Rodi SPS HBB

On the rear passenger side: Britax baby Safe Infant carrier

In the centre: Britax Eclipse SI

So it can be done safely!
This was for a 4 year old, 2 year old and baby.

I don't have a Ford Focus, but I do have a booster-group 1-booster set up for my 3 kids in a Picasso. We chose the Britax Kidfix Boosters (49 cm wide) and britax Duo Plus in the middle. This works well.

However, your Focus is probably slightly more narrow and I also suggest that you check out the Britax Adventure. It's also a high-backed booster, but it is only 43cm wide. I think the Maxi Cosi Rodi is 46cm wide.

All of my kids use Britax seats and I have never had any problems / concerns with them.

Finally, I note that you mention "booster cushion" in your post. I don't know if you were actually considering a backless booster for your 4 year old. If you were, I would definitely caution against it since they offer zero side impact protection, make it impossible to get a safe shoulder belt fit and (if your 4 year old is anything like my twins) s/he will slouch/fall asleep occasionally and find themselves in a very dangerous seating position. If I were Prime Minister, I would outlaw backless boosters until at least 8 years of age.

Good Luck.