The Volvo XC60 is a mid-sized luxury SUV crossover that competes with other luxury SUVs like the Mercedes M-Class, BMW X5, BMW X3, and its stablemate the XC90, among families looking for safe, stylish 5 to 7-passenger mid-sized SUVs. It has some of the latest features in safety design in terms of both passive and active safety, from ESC, rollover-sensing airbags, and good safety scores to pre-collision avoidance detectors. Here’s an example of a crash I researched featuring a fatal collision where the XC60 occupants survived. I love the look of it, but what I really wanted to figure out was which car seats would fit 3 across in a Volvo XC60. Let’s take a look at the results!

Before reviewing which seats work in the XC60, however, it’s a good idea to talk about best practices in car seat safety. For me, that means rear-facing in an infant seat or convertible car seat as long as possible (ideally until 4!), followed by extended harnessing in a forward-facing convertible or combination seat (ideally until 8!), and then finally using a booster seat until children are physically and psychologically developed enough to pass the 5 step test for seat belt use (which typically happens between 10 and 12). These guidelines are designed to keep your kids as safe as possible by keeping best practices in mind when it comes to car seat safety.

It took a few hours of puzzling seats together in the XC60, but at this point, I’m pretty sure of which car seats will fit in one in a 3 across arrangement, and the good news is that you can definitely fit 3 kids of a variety of ages in one. 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.

This initial generation of the Volvo XC60 is 182 inches long and 74 inches wide, which is rather typical for 2-row mid-sized SUVs on the market.You can expect to have about as much room for 3-across installations as what you’d find in other SUVs of this size class or other mid-sized cars in terms of width, but because of the shorter front-to-back length of the crossover, you’ll have to scoot the front seats up a bit if you’ve got taller rear-facing convertibles. For that reason, I’d recommend going with a seat like a Fllo or a Foonf over a Radian RXT if you’ve got taller drivers or want to maximize front-to-back space.

Although there’s not as much room for 3 across here as in, say, an XC90, here’s definitely more room for 3 across in an XC60 than there is in an S60 or V60, despite the three vehicles sharing the same underlying platform. As usual, use seat belt installations to maximize your side-to-side space for installations. It’s as safe as LATCH, but much more versatile when installing multiple seats close together.

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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.