3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Fit a Toyota Prius V?

The Toyota Prius V is a midsized car growing in popularity among families who are interested in having a decent amount of storage space while getting good fuel economy. It features a larger trunk than the standard Prius and is slightly wider and significantly longer, which means it is also going to be an easier car to install car seats in, particularly when trying to install them in a 3 across configuration.  Besides competing with the regular Prius, it also competes with mid-sized wagons like the Subaru Outback and Volvo V60 as a family hatchback, since there aren’t very many in the North American market to choose between. Here are my experiences achieving 3 across car seats in the Toyota Prius V, as well as notes of any problems I ran into.

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 6!), and then booster until a regular belt fits your child (which typically happens between 10 and 12). The goal is to keep kids safe by keeping them restrained in the best kinds of seats for as long as possible.

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 Toyota Prius V. 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. The Canadian list of recommended car seats is here. 3 across car seat images are courtesy of Wikipedia.

prius v - 2012 - publicdomain2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Toyota Prius V (ZVW40/41)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Clek Oobr (x3).

Peg Perego Flex 120 (x3).

Maxi-Cosi RodiFix (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).

Diono Radian RXT (x3).

Diono Radian R120 (x3).

Diono Radian R100 (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Maxi-Cosi RodiFix.

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Parkway SGL.

Tips and Tricks:

This is the 1st generation of the Toyota Prius V, but it already looks like it will be slightly easier to 3 across than with the regular Prius, as the Prius V is slightly wider and significantly longer. It may be necessary to use the angle adjuster with the Diono seats, depending on the sizes of the front seat occupants.

The width of this generation of Prius V is 70 inches while it is 182 inches long. This is wide enough to make 3 across feasible in several combinations, as I typically consider 70 inches my lower limit for practical 3 across setups, although it’s definitely possible to go smaller. Remember to use your seat belts instead of LATCH to get as much space as possible in an installation.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can  shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Join us in the forums!