The Dodge Journey is one of the newest mid-sized SUVs / crossovers on the market, offering an alternative to a market full of SUVs like the Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander, Ford Edge, Jeep Wrangler, and Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s a sharp looking SUV and one of the only mid-sized SUVs out there that offers a 3rd row, along with SUVs like the Pilot, Highlander, Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Flex, and Volvo XC90, which made me curious about how it does when it comes to successful 3 across car seat installations.
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).
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 Dodge Journey. 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.
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Dodge Journey
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Evenflo Tribute, Peg Perego Convertible, Evenflo Sureride.
Chicco KeyFit 30, Graco Nautilus, Britax Marathon / Boulevard.
Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Marathon / Boulevard, Diono Radian / RXT.
Chicco KeyFit 30, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco Nautilus.
Chicco KeyFit 30, Diono Radian / RXT, Evenflo Amp.
Graco Snugride 35, Britax Advocate, Diono Radian / RXT.
Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Advocate, Diono Radian / RXT.
Chicco KeyFit 30, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Marathon / Boulevard.
Britax Parkway SGL, Evenflo Sureride, Britax Parkway SGL.
Graco Affix, Evenflo Sureride, Graco Affix.
Tips and Tricks:
This is the only generation of the Dodge Journey, and it is 192 inches long and 72 inches wide. Achieving 3 across installations should be relatively straightforward at that width in the 2nd row, but achieving even 2 across will be significantly more difficult in the 3rd row jump seats.
It may also be slightly easier to achieve a 3 across installation in the 2009 and 2010 model years than in the 2011 and later model years due to slight updates in the Journey’s interior trim linings.
It’s also important to note that in the Dodge Journey, there are no tethers in the 3rd row if a 3rd row is present, and there are only 2 tethers in the 2nd row. Some parents also state that the 3rd row Journeys are wider than the 2nd row Journeys, although I haven’t been able to verify this.
Furthermore, the center seat is the one I find most tricky for a good install with particular seats, due to the plastic hinges present as well as the locking latch plate on the seat belt itself. The buckle stalk is also fixed in place and rather short, which can also make things tricky.
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