Will three car-seats fit in a Sonata?

grace_smith03 · December 2012

Hey, all! Hoping not to have to upgrade at least one of the cars...does anyone know if three car seats will fit in a sonata? Thanks so much!

grace_smith03 · December 2012

it's a 2009. Currently, we have a britax and graco convertibles...but i'm not tied to any seat. I'd rather re-invest money in new seats than on another vehicle. One could be put in a booster,

penguingrrl · December 2012

When you say one could go in a booster, you do mean a harnessed booster, correct? Because based on the tickers your oldest is 3, so at the very least it's a year before she can use a booster, most likely longer depending on her size and maturity.

For a 3 across situation you're best having everyone harnessed if possible. Getting hands in between seats to buckle a booster is a pain to do every day (in fact, when #3 arrives #1 will be moving her booster to the third row of our car because I don't want to deal with that on a day-to-day basis). Getting 3 seats in small cars is almost always possible, but you may need 1-2 radians to make it happen. For your older child you might want to look into the evenflo securekids 300/400 as that is the narrowest seat that has reasonable top harness height and also becomes a booster later. Also, instead of installing seats using the LATCH system install them with the seatbelt. The LATCH system pushes seats in towards the center a bit, so using the seatbelt will often buy you a few inches, which may be crucial in this case.

One other thought if there's absolutely no way to get 3 in (which I'm pretty sure there is). Do you need to be able to transport three kids in both of your cars? We will be unable to fit all three kids in our second car because it's a 4 seater, not 5 (it's a beetle) and we know whoever has 0-1 kids with them will take the beetle and whoever has 2-3 kids will take our bigger car. Until this summer our only car was the beetle and we had to buy a second car anyway, so we can't replace that. The only way I could see *needing* both cars to accommodate all of your kids is if one of you does school drop off and the other does pick up and there's no way to coordinate it such that you trade cars during the day. Otherwise you can probably sort things out to deal with only one car that fits the whole family.

grace_smith03 · December 2012

penguingrrl:
When you say one could go in a booster, you do mean a harnessed booster, correct? Because based on the tickers your oldest is 3, so at the very least it's a year before she can use a booster, most likely longer depending on her size and maturity.
For a 3 across situation you're best having everyone harnessed if possible. Getting hands in between seats to buckle a booster is a pain to do every day (in fact, when #3 arrives #1 will be moving her booster to the third row of our car because I don't want to deal with that on a day-to-day basis). Getting 3 seats in small cars is almost always possible, but you may need 1-2 radians to make it happen. For your older child you might want to look into the evenflo securekids 300/400 as that is the narrowest seat that has reasonable top harness height and also becomes a booster later. Also, instead of installing seats using the LATCH system install them with the seatbelt. The LATCH system pushes seats in towards the center a bit, so using the seatbelt will often buy you a few inches, which may be crucial in this case.
One other thought if there's absolutely no way to get 3 in (which I'm pretty sure there is). Do you need to be able to transport three kids in both of your cars? We will be unable to fit all three kids in our second car because it's a 4 seater, not 5 (it's a beetle) and we know whoever has 0-1 kids with them will take the beetle and whoever has 2-3 kids will take our bigger car. Until this summer our only car was the beetle and we had to buy a second car anyway, so we can't replace that. The only way I could see *needing* both cars to accommodate all of your kids is if one of you does school drop off and the other does pick up and there's no way to coordinate it such that you trade cars during the day. Otherwise you can probably sort things out to deal with only one car that fits the whole family.

PG, thank you for the super-comprehensive answer, it's much appreciated! My eldest is off-the-charts large, 36 pounds, 43" tall, so i figured that would give us wiggle room. The sonata will be the family vehicle if we are able to put in three car seats. My hubs wants a sportier car for himself, and I'm cool with it, and only need a car to tool around the 'burbs for at least a year. (i don't anticipate doing long trips for the next couple of years...and if we did need to, we can just rent for a week or so)

Thanks again.

penguingrrl · December 2012

grace_smith03:
penguingrrl:
When you say one could go in a booster, you do mean a harnessed booster, correct? Because based on the tickers your oldest is 3, so at the very least it's a year before she can use a booster, most likely longer depending on her size and maturity.
For a 3 across situation you're best having everyone harnessed if possible. Getting hands in between seats to buckle a booster is a pain to do every day (in fact, when #3 arrives #1 will be moving her booster to the third row of our car because I don't want to deal with that on a day-to-day basis). Getting 3 seats in small cars is almost always possible, but you may need 1-2 radians to make it happen. For your older child you might want to look into the evenflo securekids 300/400 as that is the narrowest seat that has reasonable top harness height and also becomes a booster later. Also, instead of installing seats using the LATCH system install them with the seatbelt. The LATCH system pushes seats in towards the center a bit, so using the seatbelt will often buy you a few inches, which may be crucial in this case.
One other thought if there's absolutely no way to get 3 in (which I'm pretty sure there is). Do you need to be able to transport three kids in both of your cars? We will be unable to fit all three kids in our second car because it's a 4 seater, not 5 (it's a beetle) and we know whoever has 0-1 kids with them will take the beetle and whoever has 2-3 kids will take our bigger car. Until this summer our only car was the beetle and we had to buy a second car anyway, so we can't replace that. The only way I could see *needing* both cars to accommodate all of your kids is if one of you does school drop off and the other does pick up and there's no way to coordinate it such that you trade cars during the day. Otherwise you can probably sort things out to deal with only one car that fits the whole family.

PG, thank you for the super-comprehensive answer, it's much appreciated! My eldest is off-the-charts large, 36 pounds, 43" tall, so i figured that would give us wiggle room. The sonata will be the family vehicle if we are able to put in three car seats. My hubs wants a sportier car for himself, and I'm cool with it, and only need a car to tool around the 'burbs for at least a year. (i don't anticipate doing long trips for the next couple of years...and if we did need to, we can just rent for a week or so)
Thanks again.

Very glad to help! Wow, your daughter is tall! My girls are too and she would tower over my 3.5 year old! Size isn't what makes for booster readiness though. Age is one factor as a child younger than 4 doesn't have the skeletal strength to handle forces of a crash without a 5 point harness (in fact, children should remain rear facing as long as possible because the 5 point harness is better than a seatbelt but still not great due to this skeletal strength issue). Maturity is another huge one as you need to be able to trust her to sit correctly every time you get in the car. This means no slumping (that will put the lap belt in the wrong position), no leaning to pick up a toy, no unbuckling, no putting the belt behind her back. Basically she has to be trustworthy to sit as if she were still in a harness despite being able to move around. Some kids are ready at 4, a good number at 5 and almost all by 6 (for developmentally typical children).

But for a tight 3 across you definitely want everyone harnessed because getting to the seatbelt buckle for a booster is a PITA!!

grace_smith03 · December 2012

penguingrrl:
grace_smith03:
penguingrrl:
When you say one could go in a booster, you do mean a harnessed booster, correct? Because based on the tickers your oldest is 3, so at the very least it's a year before she can use a booster, most likely longer depending on her size and maturity.
For a 3 across situation you're best having everyone harnessed if possible. Getting hands in between seats to buckle a booster is a pain to do every day (in fact, when #3 arrives #1 will be moving her booster to the third row of our car because I don't want to deal with that on a day-to-day basis). Getting 3 seats in small cars is almost always possible, but you may need 1-2 radians to make it happen. For your older child you might want to look into the evenflo securekids 300/400 as that is the narrowest seat that has reasonable top harness height and also becomes a booster later. Also, instead of installing seats using the LATCH system install them with the seatbelt. The LATCH system pushes seats in towards the center a bit, so using the seatbelt will often buy you a few inches, which may be crucial in this case.
One other thought if there's absolutely no way to get 3 in (which I'm pretty sure there is). Do you need to be able to transport three kids in both of your cars? We will be unable to fit all three kids in our second car because it's a 4 seater, not 5 (it's a beetle) and we know whoever has 0-1 kids with them will take the beetle and whoever has 2-3 kids will take our bigger car. Until this summer our only car was the beetle and we had to buy a second car anyway, so we can't replace that. The only way I could see *needing* both cars to accommodate all of your kids is if one of you does school drop off and the other does pick up and there's no way to coordinate it such that you trade cars during the day. Otherwise you can probably sort things out to deal with only one car that fits the whole family.

PG, thank you for the super-comprehensive answer, it's much appreciated! My eldest is off-the-charts large, 36 pounds, 43" tall, so i figured that would give us wiggle room. The sonata will be the family vehicle if we are able to put in three car seats. My hubs wants a sportier car for himself, and I'm cool with it, and only need a car to tool around the 'burbs for at least a year. (i don't anticipate doing long trips for the next couple of years...and if we did need to, we can just rent for a week or so)
Thanks again.
Very glad to help! Wow, your daughter is tall! My girls are too and she would tower over my 3.5 year old! Size isn't what makes for booster readiness though. Age is one factor as a child younger than 4 doesn't have the skeletal strength to handle forces of a crash without a 5 point harness (in fact, children should remain rear facing as long as possible because the 5 point harness is better than a seatbelt but still not great due to this skeletal strength issue). Maturity is another huge one as you need to be able to trust her to sit correctly every time you get in the car. This means no slumping (that will put the lap belt in the wrong position), no leaning to pick up a toy, no unbuckling, no putting the belt behind her back. Basically she has to be trustworthy to sit as if she were still in a harness despite being able to move around. Some kids are ready at 4, a good number at 5 and almost all by 6 (for developmentally typical children).
But for a tight 3 across you definitely want everyone harnessed because getting to the seatbelt buckle for a booster is a PITA!!

Thanks so much for the advice..my hubs had said as much, but I hadn't done the research yet.

LoveEeyore · December 2012

I would look into the Diono radians. I have a ford Edge and when my oldest was 19 months had a RF radian and two graco infant seats, then graduated to 1 FF Boulevard and 2 RF Radians, and now have 3 FF Radians.

The Radians are narrower and my 5 yr old (90th%height, but only 33lbs) and 3 yr old twins are cozy but safe. I plan to keep them in the 5-pt harness as long as possible. Good luck!

grace_smith03 · December 2012

LoveEeyore:
I would look into the Diono radians. I have a ford Edge and when my oldest was 19 months had a RF radian and two graco infant seats, then graduated to 1 FF Boulevard and 2 RF Radians, and now have 3 FF Radians.
The Radians are narrower and my 5 yr old (90th%height, but only 33lbs) and 3 yr old twins are cozy but safe. I plan to keep them in the 5-pt harness as long as possible. Good luck!

Thanks, I'll def look into it!

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