The Ford C-Max is one of the many new family-focused hybrids to hit the US market in recent years. Based on the Ford Focus and designed to replace the Ford Escape hybrid, it competes with a range of small cars sold in the US, including the aforementioned Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Kia Soul, Chevrolet Cruze, Mazda 3, Dodge Dart, Toyota Prius, Scion xB, Volkswagen Golf / GTI, and Subaru Crosstrek. In the hybrid segment, its small car competitors are the Prius, the Chevy Volt, and the now defunct Honda Insight. It’s relatively affordable and gets good mileage. But how does it do on car seats?

That’s what I decided to find out. On paper, the C-Max is a good, safe, family car. It seats five (a seven seater exists outside of the US but hasn’t been brought to this market yet), has good frontal and side crash test scores, features ESC and side airbags, and has an acceptable small overlap score. But there are many vehicles out there that look better on paper than they are in practice. I wanted to make sure the C-Max wasn’t one of them when it came to fitting 3 car seats across the back row.

Before we dive into which seats did and didn’t work in the C-Max, though, why not join me for a quick read of what’s important to do and when (and why!) when it comes to car seat ages and stages.

For me, car seat safety starts with rear-facing. It’s the safest position we know of, and the longer our kids rear-face, the safer they’ll be, regardless of what kind of vehicle they travel in. I recommend keeping children in rear-facing infant or convertible seats as long as possible (ideally until 4!), then keeping them harnessed in forward-facing seats for several years more (ideally until 8!), and then only switching them out of booster seats when they pass the 5 step test (which typically happens between 10 and 12). The goal is to keep kids in the safest kinds of seats for as long as possible to increase their odds of surviving serious car crashes.

With that all in mind, I got to work with my seats to create what I believe to be the most detailed 3 across guide for the Ford  C-Max on the Internet. If you find the list helpful when shopping for car seats, you can shop through my Amazon link below. I’ll add more seats as I test them over time.

You can access the complete 3 across guide for every vehicle here and the complete list of recommended seats here. The Canadian car seat guide is here. 3 across car seat images are taken by yours truly or are courtesy of Wikipedia.