Best car seat arrangement for three children in a Renault Clio

[NEAKT5]

Hoping to get a bit of advice on positioning of car seats. I’m due baby number 3 in September and obviously he will be in a baby car seat. I already have a 6 year old and a 4 1/2 year old. Currently my 6 year old is in a high back booster with the seatbelt and my 4 year old in the Joie Stages front facing with the harness. We unfortunately can’t afford to get a bigger car, currently have a Renault Clio.

My initial thinking for safety is having the 4 year old in the front with the harnessed seat and the other two in the back where either me or dad would sit in the middle. Does that sound the best option? If anyone has had 3 kids in a smaller car before please let me know what you did! Thank you x

Does the front passenger seat have an airbag?

Will adults be able to sit between two car seats in a Clio? Can you test it?

I have three kids 6, 3 and 1 - ended up
putting the eldest in the front in a high backed booster but push the seat as far back on the runners as it will go. Some car models also advise disabling the airbag so check the handbook. If any rear facing seat is put in the front you’re definitely supposed to disable the airbag.

Baby in the front rear facing with air bag off. You shouldnt have forward facing children in the front, most car manuals will say not to for under 12s.
You're unlikely to get 5 people in the car though comfortably without compromising on safety.

It does and the car manual states having it on for front facing but off for rear.

Yes smaller adults, I’m 5ft and petite and I did fit in before with my other two if someone was in the passenger seat but we don’t ever have anyone else in the car now.

Thank you, I saw the same for our car manual that the airbag stays on for front facing and seat back.

Thank you, I will definitely fit in the middle between the high back booster and the baby car seat with my seat belt on. I wouldn’t fit between the two older ones seats in the back I don’t believe.

We fit all 5 of us in a Renault Zoe (so even smaller, I think) by having the older two rear-facing in the back with one of us in-between and then the baby carrier in the front seat with airbag turned off. Aside from being safer, it was much easier to fit the adult in the back with the other two rear-facing as way more space for their shoulders. Congrats on the soon-to-arrive baby and hope you’re doing ok in this heat! ❤️

You might have to change the seats to get the best fit. Its unlikely your 4 year old will be fitting with a harnessed seat for much longer unless theyre on low centiles.

I’ll have to try it out a few ways I think. He is, he’s only 12kg at the moment so another 6 until he maxes that!

Mines were rear facing until my oldest turned 5 and we had to use a high back booster for a little while and then obviously he never wanted to go back to the rear facing seat and the 4 year old wanted to see out the window! I know I can tell them no and that I’m changing them back and may have to do so but I would like to avoid that fight haha!

Thank you, I think I’ll try install them a couple ways and see what seems best. Aw thank you, I am struggling today 😅😂

If you do decide to rear face them again and you need to get new seats, the Avionaut Skys are super compact but you can set them to allow quite a lot of legroom (so with the baby’s seat right forward, if need be).

Best of luck and hope you can get some rest with your legs up once you’ve got your two to bed (not long to go until bedtimes now… 💪🏻🙈) x

Ah great, thank you for that!

Thank you lovely, yes almost tea time! 🤭 x

TBH you just have to get into the car and try the different seats you have out in different positions, and then you'll know what works and what doesn't, and where specifically you need more space (ie, what to look for in a replacement seat in terms of size or shape). It is often more to do with the shape of the seats and how they fit together than the actual size.

The Stages is pretty wide, so can be tricky to fit between other seats. It sometimes works better to get a slimmer belt fitted seat for the middle and have the adult on the side, rather than in the middle. If you do have your 4yo in the front, you want the seat as far back as it will go - TBH, I would be wary about having the airbag on because it is still likely to be more at his face level than his chest level, and the Stages is the older regulation so it has more tolerance for forward movement. If you do fit it in the front, make sure you really kneel into the seat when you tighten the belt to get it solid. I wonder whether it might work to put baby in the front RF in the Stages? Although appreciate this would not work if your DC tend to be smaller for age right from birth.

I recommended someone else the Britax Evolvafix recently as a FF seat, and this can be a good one for getting 3 across because it lifts DC up higher and the area around the seatbelt access point is fairly free - it worked well for us next to a belt fitted baby seat base in the middle seat (in a different car). You would need the Britax on one side, due to the need for the top tether. Although the harness limit is 105cm, you can use it slightly longer - my 4yo has just reached the point where he needs to switch to the seatbelt rather than the 5 point harness at 109cm tall.

Axkid Minikid seats are also RF and compact for fitting 3 across but they aren't the cheapest.

Britax King Pro is also a good forward facing belt fitted seat, although appreciate you might not want something which doesn't convert to high back booster. But if your 4yo is short as well as light, it might last you a while. I don't know how far up the headrest goes on it. It is on a Prime day deal so a reasonable price currently.

This is so helpful thank you very much!

We do have a Minikid actually and do plan to use that once baby is old enough. However you could be right about needing a different seat for now for the 4 year old that isn’t as bulky as the stages.

I’ll definitely give all of that a look into and hopefully figure it out!