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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

How to fit 3 x car seats in a car

48 replies

Ameteurmum · 15/08/2021 17:24

So I drive a Hyundai Tucson and have no idea how I will fit three children in to it!
I have a 3 year old and a 6 year old - they are currently in britax romer evolva seats - I am not precious about these and they could be upgraded

What are people with similar aged kids doing? When baby comes she will be in a maxi cosi with an isofix base

My 6 year old is far from the weight limit for a booster seat, he’s v little!

Plan b is buying a c max and just looking like I’m doing airport transfers for the rest of my life

OP posts:
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Moominmiss · 15/08/2021 18:26

I’ve had an S max which was great. Then had a Citroen C4 Picasso. Now, as I’m expecting baby number 4 we’ve upgraded to a grand c4 Picasso instead for the 7 seats. Plenty of room.
As a pp said if you can get one with all the added extras and more of a ‘top of the range’ model it actually feels like a fairly luxurious car to drive!

Otherwise a multimac seat might be your best option as many middle ‘seats’ aren’t actually designed for car seat use.

Moominmiss · 15/08/2021 18:27

Like @ElephantOfRisk said you need 3 individual rear seats, not the bench type. You need 3 full size actual seats for each car seat to be safely fitted.

Shmithecat2 · 15/08/2021 18:28

[quote Ameteurmum]@MrsSchrute my husband read the exact same thing and told me about it earlier! I honestly thought it was a legal requirement for them to be in some sort of car seat until they are 12 or an equivalent weight limit![/quote]
Absolutely no way should you even consider allowing a child so young to travel without a restraint.

Your evolvas - are they isofix or not?

You could put the older child in a Britax Adventure - slim at 44cm wide, inexpensive, and has no horns, so easy to plug the buckle in when tight on space. Don't use isofix at all in fact - this will give you more wiggle room for fitting 3 across. How much does your 3yo weigh?

trevthecat · 15/08/2021 18:30

Multimac! They are amazing

Shmithecat2 · 15/08/2021 18:31

And don't bother with a multimac. They're too narrow wrt to the individual seats, and you can only rearface the baby until a maximum of 15mo, which is far too young to forward face a baby.

Bennetgirl · 15/08/2021 18:54

We've got a seat alhambra, the cheaper version of the vw sharan.

It's amazing! Definitely a mum bus 😂 It's got 5 individual isofix seats and still a good boot if all seats are up. The fridge glove compartment is a bonus! Also very handy as a van when moving house!

cookofcastamar · 15/08/2021 19:27

@Ameteurmum if you don't want to get a bigger car, you can get the Besafe Izi high back boosters for your 3 and 6 year old and a Joie Tilt Rearfacing belted in the middle. I also got the Rive move from InCarSafety. Look up rive move on the InCarSafety website.
I had the above three seats fitted in my Vauxhall Astra as we don't want to buy another car just yet.

cookofcastamar · 15/08/2021 19:28

My kids are 8,6 and 12 weeks.

m0therofdragons · 15/08/2021 19:29

Smax or vw touran - we’ve had both and they are both good and practical cars. I long for a smaller car but once they’re out of car seats they’re long legged teens.

MissBPotter · 15/08/2021 19:32

I’m 38 weeks with dc3 and we have just bought a Q7. We can fit three seats across the middle row and there are also two in the back. All the middle/back seats have isofix which is why we bought the Q7.

BirdsDoIt · 15/08/2021 19:39

We’ve got an Audi Q5 and can’t fit three seats in the back - so our workaround is to have the baby rearfacing in the front (with airbag disabled) and our 5yo and 7yo in the back, with me sitting between them (it’s snug) on journeys when all five of us are in the car. Mostly these journeys are short, so it’s manageable, and often it’s just me with the children not DH. Could be a reasonable short term solution while you figure out what to do about possible new car?

firsttimedad79 · 15/08/2021 19:40

Land Rover Discovery 3/4 :)

Loads of room and really comfy to drive :)

NannyPear · 15/08/2021 22:30

I'm facing this exact dilemma with our Tuscan! We only bought it a few months ago as no plans for a third kid but here I am 9 weeks pregnant. We won't be buying a new car so the options are:
a) find three slim seats to use with a belt for the back e.g. britax adventure for 5 year old, Joie juva for baby and something for 2 year old (not got that far)
b) older kids in back and baby rear facing in front with airbag off
c) oldest in front in a car seat with the seat pushed back as far as possible to limit airbag trauma

Hoping for option a!

Lougle · 15/08/2021 22:40

We got 3 across the back with a baby seat and 2 Britax Prince car seats in a Ford Mondeo. When we changed to a Galaxy it was much easier though.

Braxos · 15/08/2021 22:42

We are having this just now. Going to either get an S-Max or a Galaxy because I just can't be dealing with the tight squeezes of anything else!

AuditAngel · 15/08/2021 22:48

I used to have a Grand Picasso, that had 3 separate seats in the middle row, I think they were all isofix. I currently have a Prius plus which has 3 separate seats in the middle row, but i think only the outer ones have isofix (my kids are past the car seat stage , but I was driving my twin nephews in June).

Currently looking at a Citroen C5 Aircross as we have 3 kids and very few cars have 3 individual seats

givememarmite · 15/08/2021 22:48

@BirdsDoIt

We’ve got an Audi Q5 and can’t fit three seats in the back - so our workaround is to have the baby rearfacing in the front (with airbag disabled) and our 5yo and 7yo in the back, with me sitting between them (it’s snug) on journeys when all five of us are in the car. Mostly these journeys are short, so it’s manageable, and often it’s just me with the children not DH. Could be a reasonable short term solution while you figure out what to do about possible new car?
This is our exact set up too!
Moominmiss · 15/08/2021 22:56

@AuditAngel yes, I have a grand c4 and the 3 middle row seats can all be moved individually and all have isofix points.

21Bee · 15/08/2021 22:56

We are upgrading to a discovery as it has five isofix points, we can’t see another way around it!

BertieBotts · 15/08/2021 23:18

You'll have to play car seat tetris - identify a few models you want to look at and check the manufacturers' websites and then phone around local stockists to see what they have in stock and whether they'll let you have a play. Small independents may be more likely than bigger chains. They may also be good at suggesting other options. Sometimes the slimmest spec isn't necessarily the whole story because it's about how the seat bases are shaped and how they fit together. For example we can fit our baby seat in the centre but only when it's on a base, because when it's not on the base the handle is too low and overlaps the toddler seat next to it. (Luckily our base is belted!)

Once you've got a few car seats to play with it's simply a case of trying them all out in different positions and seeing whether any combination fits. It's worth measuring your side rear seats - they may not be the same width. You want to avoid isofix if possible because it positions the seat rigidly in one spot. Belt fitting gives you a little more flexibility. Just beware that the eldest (once they are in a booster) doesn't accidentally undo another child's seatbelt holding their car seat in by mistake - you might want to put them on the side where their buckle isn't next to the centre one. You may want to consider a belt buckle guard (you can buy these on amazon). You may have the same issue if you end up belt fitting the baby seat and taking this in and out daily.

Evolva is pretty wide. You might get away with 1x Evolva. But it may be worth swapping (one or both if you don't want to RF) for a slimmer Group 1 forward facing seat, which probably means one that doesn't convert to a booster. Britax Eclipse is OK, it is definitely slimline, but quite old fashioned now and doesn't have a lot in the way of safety features. I'd look at Maxi Cosi Axiss (not Axissfix) (you may not be able to use the swivel), Maxi Cosi Tobi or Britax King. These are all slimmer options, belt fitted, good safety test results and have some kind of tensioner which helps with fitting securely. The problem with a lot of cheaper FF seats is they have nothing holding the belt tight. The Evolva has the serpentine belt path which works well but this tends to be unique to 123 seats, and I don't trust any of the slimline 123 seats.

Once the 6yo meets the capacity for a booster you can swap them into a slim HBB - Britax Adventure or Maxi Cosi Rodi (Rodi air protect has better head protection and is the same size) are slim ones. How far off 15kg are they? Or did you mean they are too little for a backless booster? These aren't typically any slimmer at the base than a HBB without horns anyway. I agree you shouldn't put him in the middle with no seat yet. It might be legal but it wouldn't be safe for him if you crashed.

Try the Maxi Cosi without the base as well as with the base. If you have the compatible seat, consider changing to the Easyfix base which can be belt fitted. Again it just gives you a few more millimetres to work with. I don't personally think it's worth swapping to Joie Juva because you don't gain that much in width.

A wild card option - you may consider moving the 6yo or 3yo to a rear facing 25kg seat. Not because I'm an ERF nut (I'm not really although admittedly it is safer) but because the 25kg RF seats have so much flexibility in fit and can be fitted on the edge of the seat vs right back into the seat so you have a lot more options for space to play with. Plus the top part of the seats are the widest and they're crucially not in contact with the top of the high backed booster etc. Axkid Move/Minikid and Britax Max Way are the slimmest ones. If your 6yo is tiny, you could actually stick them both in one of these but they are quite pricey, so it might make sense just to get one.

Joie have a couple of slimline Group 1 seats - Tilt / Steadi, but I wouldn't personally recommend using them FF, only RF. So might be an option for the 3yo if they are willing to rear face, possibly as a temporary option until one of the other seats is outgrown by a sibling. They are cheaper so suitable as a temporary/spare seat. The baby could move into it directly after the baby seat too.

If you can disable the airbag, consider putting one child in the front seat, particularly if they are rear facing.

Lindtnotlint · 15/08/2021 23:33

Get a multimac. Absolutely fantastic (and the safety stats are excellent).

user7887337 · 16/08/2021 04:22

OP get 3 x Axkid Minikids

www.uberkids.com/axkid-minikid-2-0-group-1-2-car-seat-2015474/

BertieBotts · 16/08/2021 07:28

You can't put a newborn in a minikid!

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