Rear seat can accomodate 3 child seats (barely)!

[jammin86]

My wife and I purchased the 2007 CR-V as our second car partly because we can fit all three of our children in the rear seat in a pinch. We have an 18 month old, a 3 year old, and a 7 year old.

We put the 18 month old and the 3 year old in the outside position and the 7 year old in the middle. The two younger children have larger car seats and the 7 year old has a smaller "base-only" booster. But all 3 fit!

You can't get that much room in many midsize cars these days. According to specs, the 2007 CR-V has slightly more hip room than a 2006 Accord.

[bluewho25]

jammin86 congrats on the V .
Thanks for that info.

We installed the car seat (one) in the center. It gets a little tight for the other passengers seating along.
I have a wide shoulders so it can get pretty tight back there if the car seat is in the middle.

[provench]

As someone who is shopping both the CRV and Accord ... this is an very interesting piece of info.

Have you (or anyone) actually tried this with an Accord? i.e. 2 full size car seats and a booster and had luck

[jammin86]

I have not tried with an Accord. We went purely by published specs. We had a loaner car once (Ford Fusion) and were surprised that we could not fit the kids. So our search for the CR-V began with, rear hip room must be greater than 53.4". The '07 CR-V is 54.6".

Our other car is an '03 Expedition which accomodates the kids with no problem...but averages 12-15mpg :(

[bluewho25]

As someone who is shopping both the CRV and Accord ... this is an very interesting piece of info.

Have you (or anyone) actually tried this with an Accord? i.e. 2 full size car seats and a booster and had luck

I traded in my 06' Accord SE for the 07' CRV.
It feels a little more roomier in the CRV and so is the leg room in the rear.

[bing]

The new CR-V feels a little roomier in the back. I think the main difference between the Accord and CR-V is the flat rear seats. The Accord's are contoured on each side with the bump in the middle. The CR-V has that but not as prominent.

For kids, the Odyssey is the way to go but it's also not that great on gas (19-21mpg). :wink:

Bing

[mkaresh]

I have three kids--now 4,6,7,--but I'm personally not a fan of the Odyssey solution because I want to be able to stow the third row and still seat everyone. Can't do this when the middle row cannot hold three.

Instead, I drive a Mazda Protege5. Before that I drove a Ford Contour SE, which had a narrower rear seat. What I've learned is this: any vehicle with at least 45 inches of rear hiproom (the amount in the Contour) can fit three kid seats.

Not any three, mind you. They have to vary in height enough that their bolsters can overlap. In my case, I always put the taller seat, a big Britax Roundabout, in the center.

For narrower cars it helps to use a narrow booster, like the Graco Turbo Booster. I had to do this with the Contour when the time came to forward face my youngest (two of the Britax seats fit nicely side by side when one faces rearward), but not with the Mazda.

Bottom line is that a large vehicle is absolutely unnecessary just because you have three kids.

[solocanoe]

Will They Fit
2 Car Seat- 2 1/2 Yr Olds
1 Booster 7yr Old

[alirose4]

I have three kids--now 4,6,7,--but I'm personally not a fan of the Odyssey solution because I want to be able to stow the third row and still seat everyone. Can't do this when the middle row cannot hold three.

Not true. I had an 05 Odyssey. The Middle seat in the middle row can be removed OR used!
http://automobiles.honda.com/images/2007/Odyssey/interior-gallery/gal_lg4.jpg

[vhercules]

Wow 3 child seats in the back on a CRV .... very encouraging to know as we have one baby now and when we have more I dont have to get a Minivan :lol:

[Jonavin]

What kind of car seats do you have. The Radian Sunshine Kids seats are a lot narrower than most seats and has a 5-point harness up to 80lb (65lb in Canada). I've seen people put 3 in the back of a compact cars (1 rear-facing infant + 2 Radians forward).

We're still deciding between getting a CR-V (amongst other CUV) or just jumping straight to an Odyssey. Mostly because a lot of these compact SUVs doesn't have nay more room than a Honda Fit.

[JohnTokyo]

I did some checking and found that none of the child seats sold in my area support use in the middle seat of the G3/2007/2008 CR-V. All the seat documents claim that the middle seat belt on the CR-V does not have the same safety/retention system of the side seats and therefore does not provide proper protection and is "not supported".

So I guess what I am saying is check with your car seat maker to be sure you are not putting your kids in danger. Or at least move your least favorite kid to the middle seat. :-)

[xdpb10]

I did some checking and found that none of the child seats sold in my area support use in the middle seat of the G3/2007/2008 CR-V. All the seat documents claim that the middle seat belt on the CR-V does not have the same safety/retention system of the side seats and therefore does not provide proper protection and is "not supported".

So I guess what I am saying is check with your car seat maker to be sure you are not putting your kids in danger. Or at least move your least favorite kid to the middle seat. :-)

If you want to put a car seat in the middle seat don't use the middle seat belt. Use the optional hook/strap things that come with almost all car seats, the center seat has the car seat hooks near where the seat belt is, and you can just hook up the car seat that way. I use these for 2 car seats in my 2007 CR-V, and it keeps the seat belts from getting worn.

If you're confused they're called car seat safety anchors (latches).

[AoS]

Anyone having a picture of the 3 car seats installed in the back of the CR-V?.

I've got a 2005 CR-V with 2 child seats (1yr old & 3yrs old) and nobody can sit in the middle ... so putting an extra child seat wouldn't be possible either.

[Baz04]

If you need help with car seats, you can try posting over at www.car-seat.org Many of the people there are trained car seat technicians and run car seat checks.

It is possible to get 3 seats across in many cars, it just depends on the car and the car seats you are using and how they puzzle together. It may be some trial and error to get something to work. Also, if you use the LATCH anchors, the car seat is often positioned closer to the middle of the seat. So, you can try to install with seat belts and that might move the 2 outboard car seats closer to the door, and give enough space for the center position.

Also, vehicles have weight limits to the use of the lower LATCH anchors. Honda's limit is 40 lbs. Other cars have higher limits. This means that once your child is 40 lbs, you have to use the seat belt to install the seat. Many car seats have a 65 lb weight limit, and it's safer to keep children harnessed as long as possible before moving to a booster seat. Here's information on vehicle LATCH limits. This is from a manual for car seat technicians that details the use of LATCH in cars.
http://www.saferidenews.com/pdfs/pg_126_max_wt_07.pdf

[Baz04]

I did some checking and found that none of the child seats sold in my area support use in the middle seat of the G3/2007/2008 CR-V. All the seat documents claim that the middle seat belt on the CR-V does not have the same safety/retention system of the side seats and therefore does not provide proper protection and is "not supported".

So I guess what I am saying is check with your car seat maker to be sure you are not putting your kids in danger. Or at least move your least favorite kid to the middle seat. :-)

I see you're posting from Japan - are you talking about car seats available there? What car seats do you have?

The Honda manual allows use of the seat belt in the center position. I did call one manufacturer here (Safeguard) and they're OK with it too.