We just ordered a civic we thought that 3 car seats would fit in the rear,
Has anyone tried it?
We have 3 grandchildren 6 mon, 2 and 5 years old.

 

Wow! I am assuming that 2 are forward facing and one is going to be rear facing? That would have to be a interesting fit. I haven't used car seats in about 22 years so I am no expert but that would have to be tight in just about any sedan.

 

I really don't see that happening. You would need a rear facing and a forward facing car seat along with a booster seat. There just isn't enough room in the Civic.

If you just glance at the back seat, you might be fooled into thinking you could squeeze them all in back there, but the positions of the car seats are going to be dictated by the lower anchors. The car seats will need to be on the outsides and then there just will not be enough room for a booster seat in the middle.

 

I have 2 car seats in the rear, both forward facing. No way you can fit another car seat or adult between them. On long trips we put books and/or toys between them.

Our HCHII is our main vehicle. We completely fill the trunk and floor boards when we drive the 500 miles to and from New Jersey and are still very comfortable, especially with the 55+ mpgs we get going there.

 

I know there are four LATCH anchors in the seat. Couldn't you install seat #1 on anchors 1 & 2 and seat #2 on anchors 2 & 3?

Is there any reason they can't share an anchor?

nf

 

The space between two anchors isn't as wide as the car seat.

 

Are you talking about anchors 2 & 3?

We currently have our seat mounted in the middle on those two anchors just fine.

?, nf

 

Right. But isn't your car seat wider than the spacing between those two anchors? All of mine have all been. That means that you cannot put a car seat right next to it and properly secure it on anchors 1 & 2 or 3 & 4 when you already have a car seat using anchors 2 & 3.

Edit: The spacing is like this on all the anchors. Our car seats are wider than the the spacing on anchors 1 & 2 and anchors 3 & 4 in both our HCHII and our HiHy. I'm not saying that it's a problem for anchoring one seat in the middle or anchoring two seats (one at 1 & 2 and one at 3 & 4), but I do not believe that you can properly anchor two car seats right next to each other.

 

What about okie mom?

It may depend on the widths of the car seats.

I can envision sharing anchors and tightening the straps enough so the seats are secure. However the seats may be off center from their respective anchors and therefore may be a bit askew. I think it depends on the shape and size of the seats involved.

Like I said, I'll try to give it a try this weekend.

nf

 

I'm sure the connections can be made, but I would guess that the car seats are not as secure as they should be. Also, car-safety.org had a very pointed thing to say about it.

http://www.car-safety.org/latch.html

Here is a very useful thread from the car-seat.org forum named "Successful Three Across thread":
http://car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=33226

At least two different people had three across in the current generation Civic. They did not use the LATCH system--just seat belts. I believe it is better to use the seat belts than to use the LATCH system improperly.

Anyway, it looks like three across can be done--just do not use the LATCH system for it.