The Ford Freestyle and its badge twin, the Taurus X, are no longer manufactured in the US, having been replaced by the Ford Flex. However, many parents continue to email me asking which car seats will fit 3 across in a 7-seater Taurus X or Freestyle, and I figured it was high time I put together a 3 across guide to help all of the parents who haven’t emailed me yet. If you came here looking for the Taurus sedan 3 across guide, that’s here.

The Freestyle / Taurus X is still a great safe used family vehicle (although there’s still fervent debate over whether it was actually a station wagon, SUV, or crossover), with good frontal crash scores and side airbags in the later Freestyle years and all Taurus X years, as well as ESC in all Taurus X years. However, if you’re reading this, you probably want to know how the answer to this question: how does the Freestyle / Taurus X do when it comes to providing room for 3 car seats of varying sizes across the 3rd row in the 7-seat versions? That’s what I set to find out.

Before looking at which car seats did and didn’t fit in the Freestyle / Taurus X in 3 across setups, it’s worth reviewing a bit of car safety, in terms of which kinds of seats to use and when.

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 Freestyle / Taurus X on the Internet, covering every model year of the wagon / crossover / SUV ever made. 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, although I’ll prioritize vehicles currently manufactured over ones.

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.

The Ford Freestyle / Taurus X was 200 inches long and 75 inches wide, making it a good choice for 3 across in the 3rd row if you were lucky enough to buy the 7-seater. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to add an extra seat if you don’t have the bench option. The 3rd row isn’t the widest, but it’s definitely wide enough as long as you’re willing to use your seat belts instead of LATCH for the installation. Remember that seat belts are as safe as LATCH, and in some cases, safer, depending on the weight limits of your car seats.

Given the length of the Freestyle / Taurus X, I wouldn’t expect you to have much trouble with fitting most seats in rear-facing configurations in terms of front-to-back space, but if you’re concerned about making things work, you can also check out my front-to-back comparison chart for rear-facing convertibles.

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.