Kia Sportage middle rear car seat

[mydudero]

Can anyone recommend a car seat for the middle rear seat in a Kia Sportage please? It has the ceiling seat belt that clips in both sides so has the lap belt and then crosses the body.

My 4 year old currently sits on one side in a joie elevate. Baby is the other side, currently in a maxi cosi pebble on the familyfix base, and will move up to a joie 360 spin when bigger.

Before baby arrived I quite often had my nephew in the car for days out (DD in the joie spin and nephew in joie elevate) and hoping to find a seat that will fit in the middle. He's 3 & a half but very tall in 5-6yrs clothes. Would be happy to put either him or DD in the joie elevate but need something for the middle for the other child.

Not sure if either of them are old / tall enough yet for just a booster seat yet? If not I'm looking for a seat that's narrow and can be fitted using the ceiling belt.

Thank you

Have you checked the handbook of your car to see if a child seat is actually allowed to be used in the centre seat? Looking at a random Sportage manual online (2023) it says that none are permitted. Of course, you should check for your exact year/model.

You may need to put one child in the front. In that case, it's best to put a rear facing seatbelt fitted seat (e.g. Maxi Cosi Pebble) in the front if possible and make sure you disable the airbag. If this is not an option, then you must put the tallest child in the front, push the front seat back as far as possible and check very carefully to make sure that the seat is fitted very tightly to the car with NO slack at all (kneel into the seat while fitting it, if it's a 5 point harness seat) and the harness or seatbelt is correctly fitted to the child at the right height and tight enough. Refer to manual to check if airbag should be on or off for forward facing child.

Thank you so much for this, your post was really helpful.

I don't know why I didn't think to check the manual first, baby brain perhaps! I have taken a photo of the page in the manual. From what I gather a booster seat could be used in that seat, and it also says yes for universal belted CRS. I'm not sure if this means a regular car seat that is installed via seatbelt such as our joie elevate.

I'm not sure how I feel about using a booster seat yet, I have found one online (Nania Topo Luxe) which says it's for age 3-12 and both the 3 & 4 year old fall within the weight range. However I would prefer them to be in a proper high backed car seat so think putting one in the front may be the better idea. We're usually out with my mum so would mean her in the back between 2 of them.

Think I need to keep researching, may call the Kia garage to ask their thought.

On the maxi cosi website it says the safest place for a child is the rear middle seat as they're at the maximum distance from the side air bags and any potential impact! Yet most car seats aren't suitable there.

Halfords Essentials Oryx R129 is 44cm wide and the slimmest car seat I could find. It’s a high back booster seat.

Ah OK great, remember booster seat can encompass both backless and high back booster. I would certainly prefer a high back booster, though honestly a 5 point harness is better at 3. I appreciate it might not be an option if your nephew is big for his age.

Maxi Cosi Tanza i-size is a very slim one.

Oh and yes sorry the Elevate is a universal belted CRS. So is Joie Tilt/Graco Extend, these are very slim models and inexpensive. Though might be too small for both DC.

Are there any other tables for allowed car seats? It just says "UN regulation" which is quite vague - the European regulations R44 and R129 are both UN Regulations but I am not sure if there are others used in other areas if that makes sense?

@BertieBotts thank you for the car seat suggestions, will have a look into each of these and see if they'll fit. I know the joie elevate can eventually be used with the 3 point seatbelt rather than the 5 point harness so could always put the largest child into that one.

I'd much rather the high backed also. The elevate, and also the joie 360 that baby will move up to, both have side impact shields. I feel like the child sandwiched in the middle would need some protection from those.

I have had a look through each page of that section and I can't see anything else re allowed car seats. I'll attach the photos of the other pages.

You have been very helpful thank you

Photos cont...

Normally with those side impact things you can fold them away when there is another child seat next to it, so it doesn't poke the child in the head :) They are only useful on the side next to the door anyway.

The limit on the harness in the Elevate is 18kg, but it does go nice and tall, so might accommodate your nephew in the 5 point harness, but do double check both kids' weight. My 5yo would be too heavy for it (you said he was roughly this tall).

When trying to fit two child seats and an adult across the back of ours, we did find that a belt fitted seat in the middle and an isofix one on the side seat fitted better and was more comfy for the adult than squeezing them into the centre.

Yes, I think you had the right page to begin with :) It does mention R44 and R129 on there so it does seem to be the right kind.

If you are fitting a seat in the centre you need to make sure that the child seat isn't covering up the buckle as it has a buckle on each side.

It can sometimes be helpful just to go to a shop that sells all different car seats and try different ones out though it might be a pain for something you'll only need occasionally.

@BertieBotts is the oracle for car seats, so probably ignore me - but would one of the “travel” ones like the Maxi Cosi Nomad work? They look narrower online, but not sure if it would work with the seat belt set up?

Sorry for piggybacking but quick question - my parents have recently bought a Kia Sportage. When we visit them, DDs are in a infant carrier and a Joie 360, although im planning on upgrading the Joie to a rf Britax max safe pro. Can an adult fit in the middle rear seat or is it too narrow with two car seats? We are trying to work out if DH needs to get the bus home from the train station, if DM picks DDs and me up 😬

I had a Kia Sportage and space was incredibly tight in the middle with high backed boosters either side. A slim adult could just fit in the space but it wasn't comfortable. I suppose it depends on the car seats, but we wouldn't have fit a third seat in the back.

@QueenOfWeeds I think both the children OP described would be too tall for the Nomad most likely. And I'm not sure it would get a secure fit with the seatbelt style described. (It might be OK, but it might be tricky to get it tight enough).

Did you manage to find anything? I've just travelled quite a way in the back of my sportage between a joie 360 and a joie everystage... it was not fun and I'm either going to have to get new seats or a new car!

I have a 2022 Sportage, and also allows a belted seat in the middle. We have two avionaut sky q seats and one infant carrier across the back. The infant carrier is behind the driver. The seat with the infant carrier can also fit a high back booster (besafe Flexi izi) or an adult.