Car Seats in Element

[jepoley]

My wife and I look at an Element the other day and we liked most of it. Our major issue was the back seat was SO roomy, it seems it would be very hard to reach a child in a car seat. Anyone have experience with car seats in the back? (Forward and Rear facing)

thanks.

[paulj]

Are you talking about reaching from the front passenger seat, or reaching from the open doors? The distance back to the rear seats means less of a problem with little feet kicking the seat in front of them. Note also that the center console is low enough to pass through if needed.

paulj

[L-M-N-T]

If you're talking about an infant car seat, there are large mirrors you can mount on the ceiling so that you can see your child 's face (if they are facing to the rear). Our kids are 6 and 8 (both boys) and one of the reasons I liked the Element is because on long drives or when they are tired, they can recline and go to sleep. In the other cars we have had, when the kids fell asleep their heads would slump over to one side and they did not look very comfortable. On the drive home from the dealership (we picked it up around 8:30 p.m.) the kids got a kick out of reclining in their seats and looking at the stars.
Durned kids!!!

[ttempel]

My wife and I look at an Element the other day and we liked most of it. Our major issue was the back seat was SO roomy, it seems it would be very hard to reach a child in a car seat. Anyone have experience with car seats in the back? (Forward and Rear facing)

thanks.

we've had ZERO problems w/kids car seats in the rear. Our kids are now 5 1/2 and 3 1/2, and now we typically use a small "booster-bottom" or whatever (the seat's got no back), and a larger car set for the two of them. For the small bottom-only seat I just toss it onto the seat and Connor uses the normal shoulder/lap harness just fine. For Stephen's seat I threaded a LATCH belt adapter--basically a seat belt with a LATCH clasp at each end--thru the seat so I can fasten the seat to the LATCH points inside the seat (the hardpoint loops of metal right where the seat bottom meets the seat back---fold the seats all tlhe way back and you can see those loops if you're unfamiliar with them).

[Buck62]

We have two little boys... ages 3 and 1.

The extra distance between the seats is a GODSEND!!!!

Getting the kids in and out is a breeze with the extra room, because you can lean or walk in without the front seats in your way. The kids could NEVER "accidentally" open their doors because you have to open the front doors first. There's also more than enough space between the front seats that would allow you to get up and step into the back seat area without getting out of the car (when you stop or pull over, of course).

The Element has the rear tether attachments in the headliner and also has tether/hook attachments on the floor at the walls and between the rear seats. I haven't seen this many places to attach a baby seat on ANY other vehicle we looked at before buying our "E". Our kids' baby seats are secure as Fort Knox!

Don't worry about the kids tossing their snacks or juice bottle, the floor can be easily wiped up with any cloth or even a napkin (in a pinch).

Honda originally marketed the Element for young people with active lifestyles.

They should have marketed it as the perfect vehicle for people with one or two little kids. :)

[ttempel]

We have two little boys... ages 3 and 1.

The extra distance between the seats is a GODSEND!!!!

oh yeah, i forgot to add: it's almost IMPOSSIBLE for the kids to kick the back of the front seats!

[jepoley]

Thanks to all for the feedback!

[Michelle5480]

Im sure if they marketed the E for the parents with small childen they would go like hotcakes. The floor is definetely what sold me. I had a bad experience with stuff spilling on the carpets and the gum gooing off. The kids love my E since they can actually walk around without bumping their heads. The fact that they cant open their door was also a big seller with me. The E is very kid friendly.

[L-M-N-T]

I'll say... we were coming home from a long day at the local amusement park (not a large scale one, you know-kiddie rides only). It was a scorcher that day and my youngest got really dizzy on the last ride. The kids were able to recline and take a nap on the way home. I know it says rear passengers should be upright while driving, but...

[psschmied]

Not only shoud rear passengers be upright while driving, but children under 70 lbs should be restrained by a seat system that gives them additional support. Sliding under a seatbelt during a hard stop can break a childs ribs.

An improperly unrestrained child in a car is a recipe for disaster. If an amusement park risked your kids lives the same way, if would be shut down. Seems to me that if you take your kids to a park because you love them, you ought to protect them better in your car.

[ttempel]

Seems to me that if you take your kids to a park because you love them, you ought to protect them better in your car.

before this gets out of hand on either side, we don't know how far the seats were reclined, and I'm going to assume that she didn't directly place them in danger.

i myself have reclined the seats ever-so-slightly at times just so their heads don't roll around when they fall asleep on the drive. No, i'm not folding them flat and yes, the kids are still quite safely buckled into their seats and restrainted properly, and not in any danger of sliding under, out, or thru the belts.

psschmied does bring up a good point about seat systems and support, one that I whole-heartedly support. I can't count how many times I've seen kids walking about or bouncing around inside SUV's and minivans, with the adults in front as well as in the rearmost seats. I don't know what they're thinking.

[piroshki]

Hoping this thread might still be alive...

Has anyone tried putting a rear-facing child seat (Britax is the one we are going for) in the CENTER of the rear seat? My assumption is that one could LATCH to the center 2 attachment points on the floor, rather than using both on one side. (I wonder if this makes any sense to anyone?)

I can pretty much say I will go ahead and buy an E if the answer to the above is yes... but I would love to hear from someone with experience with this!

Thanks!

[psschmied]

You will have a problem doing this. The spacing isn't the same, and the child seat will not sit down against the padded center section in the same manner as in the seat. It will tend to rock from side to side.

While you could probably jerry-rig something, it would defeat the purpose of the LATCH system, which is to securely retain the seat against rocking in any direction or sliding. It would also compromise any passengers riding on either side. Since their seat belts would have to be routed around the child carrier, their belts would not be able to be properly positioned across their hips.

If you need to carry a child in the center, please get a different vehicle.

[Mr. X Games]

My wife and I look at an Element the other day and we liked most of it. Our major issue was the back seat was SO roomy, it seems it would be very hard to reach a child in a car seat. Anyone have experience with car seats in the back? (Forward and Rear facing)

thanks.

Even ignoring the roominess issue, it still seems to me that the E is considerably less convenient for kids (unless they tend to spill their drinks often), and for back seat passengers in general. I would think the installation or removal of a child safety seat would be an entirely different experience without being able to reach the seat conveniently using a conventional back door. I'm much happier with the E for the way I use it, since with no children the occasional inconvenience of the way the rear side doors work for passengers is more than offset by their greater convenience when the back seat area is used for storage (the E definitely holds more stuff than the V, a fact I learned by direct comparison). If I had kids to cart around, I probably would have gotten a V (or perhaps even a Pilot) instead.