3 car seats

[Mumofoneandanotherontheway]

Hi I wonder if anyone can give me some advise.
I have a 5yr old, 2yr old & another on the way (due March)
We have a Kadjar suv car and wondering if anyone knows if & what 3 car seats would fit on the back seats?
There’s a total of 5 of us so need to get thinking now.

Tia x

[teaandlotusbiscoff]

What seats are the 5yo and 2yo currently in?
Is your two year old rear facing?

If you have baby and toddler on end rear facing and 5yo in a booster in middle tends to give more room for flexibility!

Britax two way elite is narrow so good for the 2yo, also using infant carrier without the base can give more room. Cybex B-fix is narrow, also the Joie Trillo and BeSafe flex fix

[Mumofoneandanotherontheway]

Thank you teaandlotusbiscoff for getting back to me.
Currently my 2yr old is in a Joie 360 spin & my 5yr old is in something similar to a Joie Trillo (might be the exact model but I can’t remember what it was called)
Came across a company on Instagram who custom make car seats to fit your car but they £2k+. May aswell buy a second hand car
Advice would be much appreciated

[teaandlotusbiscoff]

I’m assuming the one you saw on Instagram was a multimac? I really wouldn’t recommend it as there’s no side impact protection and it’s forward facing from 1 which isn’t exactly recommended.

Are you on Facebook? There’s a group called ‘Car seat advice UK’ which could be useful. AFAIK the 360 is rather wide so may be a struggle to fit three in. Do you already have an infant carrier? Might be a bit of a struggle but you could try to squeeze them all in (with alternate directions—eg two end rear facing and middle forward)

Also is your two year old still rear facing? As typically a 25KG RF seat can work better with these combinations

[Mumofoneandanotherontheway]

Yes that’s the company I saw on Instagram. Well that’s definitely out of the window then as I want safety first.
I’ve requested to join the group. Thank you

[BertieBotts]

Just be aware Car Seat Advice UK is not a fast advice group. The advice is really good as they guarantee expert response but there tends to be a waiting time for your question to be answered.

In the meantime I'm afraid there's never really an easy answer to three across. It is not always about which is the physically narrowest seat, it is about how exactly they fit together. You want to avoid especially wide seats, but other than this the width is not usually the issue. It can also be worth exploring different options in the types of seat you are using - for example harness vs booster, forward facing vs rear facing. Bearing in mind that obviously your seat needs will change as your children grow.

If you already have an infant carrier it may work to do a bit of trial and error and just spend a day moving the three seats you have around in different combinations and seeing what will fit. The two side rear seats are often not the same width or the isofix points/seatbelt buckles are not always evenly spaced, it's worth checking using a tape measure. If you can borrow any car seats from family or friends to have a go with those as well, even better. This will help you get an idea about whether any of your seats are a problem.

Seatbelt fitted seats can give you a bit more flexibility than isofix, although obviously you still need to be able to install a seat securely. Something that fits using seatbelt and tethers such as the Nordic style, 25kg rear facing seats as tea says, can have the most flexibility in fit as they often have some choice about how deeply on the seat you install it (this is supposed to give you a choice of more leg room for the child, vs more room for the front seat). Otherwise, specifically looking for brands where the bases are differently shaped can help.

The Joie Spin isn't especially wide, but you likely won't be able to use the spin function when you have three seats across so this can be worth bearing in mind when deciding whether or not to keep or scrap it.

The child in the middle will be least in need of side impact protection, because of their distance from the sides of the car. Legally, if really stuck you can have the eldest in the middle without a booster, but I wouldn't recommend it - at the very least a bubble bum (and this at 5 is not ideal), better a proper backless booster (if tall/heavy enough) or slim booster seat such as Britax Adventure - I don't think the Trillo is much wider TBH.