The Honda Civic is one of the most popular vehicles on the road, and is driven by people from all walks of life, including parents. However, being a smaller vehicle, it can be a challenge to find out which car seats fit and don’t fit well inside it, especially if one is trying to install 3 car seats across in a Honda Civic. Here are the car seats I’ve tried and verified as seats that puzzle well in Civics of different model years. Basically, you’re looking at a tight fit for most of them, simply because it’s a small car, but it’s definitely possible, just as it’s possible in a Corolla, Cruze, Focus, Elantra, Dart, and many other small cars.
You know the basics of best practices in car seat safety: rear-face as long as possible (ideally until 4!), and then forward-face as long as possible (ideally until 8!), and then booster until a regular belt fits your child (which typically happens between 10 and 12). These are the recommendations I provide to keep kids as safe as possible through each developmental stage.
However, for this information to be helpful, you need to know if a particular car seat will fit in your particular vehicle. Here are my experiences fitting a range of seats inside various years of the Honda Civic. I’ll periodically update each page as I try more seats in more positions.
You can access the complete 3 across guide for every vehicle here and the complete list of recommended seats here. 3 across car seat images are courtesy of Wikipedia.
2016, 2017, 2018 Honda Civic (FC1, FC2)
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).
Honda finally made a significant dimensional change to the Civic in 2016 by switching to a different global platform. What this means is that the Civic is now both longer (more than 182 inches) and wider (almost 71 inches) than any previous Civic, which translates into more space side to side and front-to-back for 3 across installations. It also means that anything in the previous generations should fit in the current generation with more space. What I’ve listed above are just some of the seats I’ve tested so far. As before, you’ll want to use seat belts to make things work internally, although you’ll be able to get away with LATCH when dealing with just one or two seats.
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Honda Civic
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco TurboBooster.
Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco Nautilus.
Britax Parkway SGL, Cosco Scenera, Diono Radian / RXT.
Britax Parkway SGL, Britax Boulevard / Marathon, Diono Radian / RXT.
Graco Snugride 35, Cosco Scenera, Diono Radian / RXT.
Graco Snugride 35, Britax Boulevard / Marathon, Diono Radian / RXT.
Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Boulevard / Marathon, Diono Radian / RXT.
Combi Coccoro, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.
Britax Boulevard / Marathon, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Boulevard / Marathon.
Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Boulevard / Marathon, Diono Radian / RXT.
Britax Parkway SGL, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Parkway SGL.
Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Parkway SGL, Diono Radian / RXT.
I grouped close to a decade of Civics together here because they’re all still basically the same size, which means that seats that worked in the older years will still work in the newer years, except that you might have a tiny bit more room to work with. If things change, I’ll make a new list. But for now, the Civic has remained basically 67-69 inches wide and around 177-179 inches long for a long time.
Radian / RXT – yes with or without the angle adjuster. It can also fit RF in the center rear seat without touching the driver’s or passenger’s seat, although this will naturally depend on the height of the driver and passenger. It also puzzles well next to a Graco Nautilus. It can puzzle with a Britax Parkway SGL if the Radian is center and the Parkway is outboard with great difficulty.
Graco Nautilus – yes. It also puzzles well next to a Diono Radian RXT.
Britax Parkway SGL – yes in the outboard position. It can puzzle with the Diono Radian when the Radian is in the center, but only with great difficulty due to the need to buckle the booster.
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Honda Civic
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Baby Trend Flex Loc, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Marathon 70.
Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Baby Trend Flex Loc.
Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Parkway SGL.
Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT , Combi Coccoro.
Tips and Tricks:
Radian / RXT – yes with or without the angle adjuster. It will puzzle well with an adjacent Radian when one is outboard and one is the center if the outboard Radian is forward-facing and the center Radian is rear-facing. Two Radians can also easily be installed in the outboard positions while rear-facing. You can manage a secure 3 across installation with Radians in this generation of Civics with great difficulty, at least when forward-facing.
Britax Frontier 90 – yes, but it will not puzzle next to a center rear-facing Radian if the Frontier is outboard; you won’t be able to close the door.
Britax Parkway SG – yes in the outboard position. Can puzzle with the Diono Radian when the Radian is in the center, but only with great difficulty due to the need to buckle the booster.
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