Rear seat can accomodate 3 child seats (barely)!

[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]

Originally Posted by 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. :-)

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]

Originally Posted by 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. :-)

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.