The Hyundai Accent is one of the most affordable cars you can buy new today in the United States, which is part of why it’s such a popular car among young professionals and small families.  Competing with the Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, Toyota Prius C, and Toyota Yaris, it’s a low-cost alternative in the mini-car market, and it’s rapidly growing in popularity. You can haul a surprisingly large number of things in it, including little ones in 3 across configurations, as I learned this past weekend. Here are the results of my efforts to fit 3 car seats in a Hyundai Accent.

You know the basics of best practices in car seat safety: rear-face as long as possible (until 4 or 5 like the Swedes), followed by harnessing until they can safely use booster seats (until at least 5, like the Swedes), and then boostering until the 5 step test is passed (typically between 10, 11, and 12). The goal is to keep your little ones safe by using the safest restraints and positions we know of for as long as possible.

However, in order to put this information to use, you need to know a bit more about which car seats will and will not fit well in particular car models, which is where guides like this come in. Several scraped knuckles later, I can confirm that it’s not only possible to fit car seats in a Hyundai Accent, it’s actually possible to fit several car seats in the Accent without too much trouble. My results are below. The results apply to both the sedan and wagon (hatchback) version of the Accent.

You can access the complete 3 across guide for every vehicle here and the complete list of recommended seats here. Canadians can find recommended seats here. 3 across car seat images are courtesy of Wikipedia.

2018, 2019, 2020 Hyundai Accent (HC)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).

Clek Oobr (x3).

Diono Radian RXT (x3).

Diono Radian R120 (x3).

Diono Radian R100 (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Chicco KeyFit 30.

Diono Radian / RXT, Chicco KeyFit 30, Diono Radian / RXT.

Chicco KeyFit 30, Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT.

Tips and Tricks:

This generation of the Hyundai Accent is 165 inches long in the hatchback version and just under 173 inches in the sedan, while expanding slightly to just over 68 inches wide. As a result, you’re going to have to plan more carefully to achieve a 3 across installation than you would in a number of other vehicles, and practically speaking, you barely have any advantages over the previous generation. That’s said, it’s definitely possible to do, so don’t give up. Start out with a seat belt installation for all three seats and don’t be afraid to try different combinations from what I’ve listed above.

2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 Hyundai Accent (RB)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).

Clek Oobr (x3).

Diono Radian RXT (x3).

Diono Radian R120 (x3).

Diono Radian R100 (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Chicco KeyFit 30.

Diono Radian / RXT, Chicco KeyFit 30, Diono Radian / RXT.

Chicco KeyFit 30, Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT.

Tips and Tricks:

This generation of the Hyundai Accent is 172 inches long in the sedan version and 67 inches wide. As a result, you’re going to have to plan more carefully to achieve a 3 across installation than you would in a number of other vehicles. That’s said, it’s definitely possible to do, so don’t give up. Start out with a seat belt installation for all three seats and don’t be afraid to try different combinations from what I’ve listed above.