Lil Fan High-Back / Low-Back Booster Review: Sporty and Safe

October 13, 2015 Mike

If you’re a sports fan, you might have a lot of sports gear around your home, and even within your vehicle. Perhaps you’re even raising a little MLB, NBA, NCAA, or NFL fan in the back seat. Whatever team you support, if you’re in the market for a booster seat, you might want to consider the Lil Fan High-Back / Low-Back booster seat series. They’re designed to keep your little ones safe while allowing them to show off their fan pride. Around where I live, most folks are for the Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Bears or Packers. There are still a few Bulls fans, but not like there used to be in the ’90s. At any rate, enough sports talk; let’s take a look at the Lil Fan Booster. I picked mine up, as usual, from Amazon, and decided to see if it held up on the safety end as well as it did from the sporty end.

2015 Lil Fan High-Back / Low-Back Booster – What’s the big deal?

The Lil Fan high-back / low-back booster, beneath its sports insignia, is a dual mode booster seat. In other words, it’s designed to be used with children who have outgrown forward-facing harnesses but who still aren’t ready to use the adult seat belt. To determine when kids are ready for the adult seat belt, I recommend the 5 step test.

The Lil Fan can be used in both a high-back booster and as a low-back booster. I prefer high-back boosters to low-back boosters, as they free you from depending on the vehicle’s seat to comfortably fit a child’s upper body (i.e., the torso) and from depending on the vehicle’s seat to include a well-fitting head rest. However, the low-back end allows you to continue using the booster if your child outgrows the high-back part before reaching the point where s/he no longer needs a booster.

Buy the Lil Fan booster on Sale at Amazon here.

Lil Fan High-Back / Low-Back Booster Limits for Weight and Height and Measurements

High-back booster: 30 to 110 lbs. Your child must be between 38″ and 57″ tall, and according to the box, at least 4 years old. Personally, I recommend using rear-facing or forward-facing harnessed seats until your child is at least 5 years old, as very few children will be physiologically or psychologically ready to use a boostered seat at that age.

Personally, I’m far more comfortable with 6, 7, or even 8 years of age if your harnessed seat will allow it. Oddly enough, the 4 year old minimum age range isn’t listed anywhere on the manual or booster itself.

Low-back booster: 40 to 110 pounds. Your child must be between 40″ and 57″ tall and at least 4 years old, and the vehicle’s head restraint must provide an adequate head support.

Lifespan and other measurements: The Lil Fan has a 6 year lifespan before
you will need to replace it due to expiration. You also need to replace it if it is involved in a crash. Seven height positions are included in the head support. The lowest of the 7 height positions is 14.5″ while the tallest is 20.5.” This isn’t as high as that found in the best boosters and combination seats on the market, such as the Frontier G1.1 / 90 and Pinnacle G1.1 / 90, but it’s off to a very good start, and it’s better than a number of other boosters on the market.

The seat is 13″ deep and ranges from 10″ in width at the rear part of the seat to a max of 13″ by the cup holders. The seat itself measures 17″ in width at the armrests, which makes it a good choice for 3 across installations due to its narrowness. You can check out the full 3 across car seat guide for more tips of combinations likely to work in your car, SUV, pickup truck, or minivan.

Using the Lil Fan High-Back / Low-Back Booster

Vehicle fit

The Lil Fan was easy to set up out of the box, and it’ll only take you a few minutes to have it in ready to use condition in your given vehicle. At 17 inches across, it’s a good booster for 3 across setups. There are narrower boosters out there, like the Clek Oobr, but of course, they won’t come with your favorite fan branding. Using the cup holder will increase the width, of course.

Child fit

The Lil Fan fits a good range of kids, although it’s definitely not the tallest-fitting booster on the market. That award goes to the Frontier G1.1 / 90 and the Pinnacle G1.1 / 90. That said, you can still get a child most of the way (and in some cases all the way) with the Lil Fan in its high-back mode without resorting to the low-back mode. Remember to look for the signs to let you know when your child is and isn’t ready to go without a booster. If your child doesn’t pass the 5-step test before outgrowing the Lil Fan in the high-back mode, s/he almost certainly will before outgrowing the low-back mode.

When using a dual mode booster seat like the Lil Fan, there are a few elements to keep in mind. First of all, the shoulder belt guide must always be either at or just above your child’s shoulders; you adjust this by adjusting the booster’s head rest height. If you reach a point in high-back mode where your child’s shoulders are above the highest height setting for the shoulder belt guide, you’ll need to remove the high back and use the low-back mode, or the bottom.

Comfort and Maintenance

The Lil Fan series are comfortable seats with a light amount of padding throughout the body. Maintenance is relatively simple; you simply remove the cover and machine wash it in cold water. You’ll want to use a mild detergent and the delicate or gentle cycle, and it’s best to line-dry the fabric to reduce wear. To remove the cover, you unsnap it from the high-back and pull off the elastic on the low-back.

Buy the Lil Fan booster on Sale at Amazon here.

Why Buy the Lil Fan High-Back / Low-Back Booster?

As wonderful as it is to have the wide range of teams available through the Lil Fan series, for me, the most important element of this car seat, and of any car seat, isn’t aesthetic, but functional. The question I’m always asking myself is how good of a job the seat does when it comes to keeping kids safe. And when it comes to keeping kids safe in a booster seat, I prefer to see them spend several years in two kinds of seats before ever sitting in a booster. That means rear-facing for as long as possible before forward-facing (ideally until 4 or even 5!), and once forward-facing, doing so for a number of years (ideally until 8!) before beginning to booster. Finally, once kids are boostering, I like to see them using boosters for as long as it takes until they can sit in vehicle seats with adult seat belts safely; that usually takes most kids until they’re between 10 and 12.

The Lil Fan will do a good job in allowing most kids to use it until they pass the 5-step test. For most kids, this will require using it in both high-back and low-back modes, because a number of children may outgrow it in the high-back mode. If you’re looking for booster seats that will allow kids to use them in the high-back mode from start to finish, you’re looking for a seat like the the Frontier G1.1 / 90 and Pinnacle G1.1 / 90. Those are the two best booster seats on the market right now.

That said, the Lil Fan set is a good one, and I have no hesitation when it comes to recommending it as a boostering option for parents, especially those who follow televised sports. It’s a safe, quality, and relatively affordable booster seat that’s far more appropriate for young children than sitting directly in a vehicle’s seat. You can buy the Lil Fan booster in 31 NCAA team colors here with free returns and free shipping. You can buy MLB booster seats for a range of teamshere. You can also buy diaper-toting backpacks for the NFL and NCAA and diaper-friendly messenger bags for the NFL and NCAA, as well as NCAA sling bags. Who knew car seat safety could be so sporty?

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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.

Car Seat Safety in Trains: How to Keep Children Safe on Trains

October 9, 2015 Mike

I’ve written extensively about how important it is to keep our children safely and properly restrained in car seats, in order to maximize their odds of surviving car collisions. In the United States, the leading cause of death for children between the ages of around 1 and 14 are car collision-related trauma, or car accidents. We can increase the likelihoods of keeping our kids safe in cars, SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks of all sizes by rear-facing as long as possible, forward-facing as long as possible, and using booster seats until our kids pass the 5-step test. This is the meat and potatoes of this blog. However, our kids don’t simply travel in private vehicles. Sometimes we choose to take taxis, buses, airplanes, and trains. How do we keep our kids safe in those?

This is the start of a series on keeping kids safe in alternative means of transportation. Today’s focus will be on safe train travel with kids.

How safe are trains compared to cars?

Many parents have asked me over the years about the safety of trains and how to keep their children protected when they have to use them. They’re often already familiar with what I advocate regarding car seat use, safe driving techniques, and safe vehicle choices. However, they don’t know to what degree any of this is applicable to train travel. The good news is that trains are among the safest forms of transportation we have available. The USDOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics states 11 people died on trains (both freight and passenger railroads) in 2013. In comparison, 22,383 people lost their lives that year traveling in motor vehicles, per the NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Furthermore, per the National Safety Council,

In 2012, the passenger death rate in light duty vehicles was 0.49 per 100 million passenger-miles. The rates for buses, trains and airlines were 0.04, 0.02, and 0.00 respectively.

The risk of dying per mile in a passenger vehicle in 2012 was 24 times higher than when traveling as a passenger in a train. To put it simply, it’s much, much safer to travel by train than it is to travel by car, van, SUV, or pickup truck.

Besides that, it’s a lot more fun to travel by train over long distances for young children and adults, simply because you’re free to walk around throughout most of the journey, and you can spend time focused on each other without worrying about driving. You can also go to the bathroom whenever you want!

Can you use a car seat on a train? Do you need one?

To put it simply, no, and no. Trains don’t have seat belts, which means it’s impossible to securely attach a car seat to a train. The statistics suggest you don’t need one, as do physics.

The sudden deceleration (and resultant inertia) that occur in car collisions are what makes them much more likely to be fatal when restraints aren’t present; the vehicle stops suddenly and people go flying into the vehicle (or out of it) if they don’t have car seats and seat belts to slow them down.

In contrast, because of how incredibly massive trains are, they don’t tend to stop immediately in collisions, but rather to knock things out of their way while slowing down. Similarly, their massive inertia tends to result in their slowing down relatively slowly, giving passengers time to “ride down” collisions. Of course, trains crashing into other trains in head on collisions can produce the instantaneous stops that occur in head on car collisions, but such collisions are very rare (far, far rarer than vehicular collisions).

So no, car seats can’t be installed on trains, but they also aren’t necessary. You’re considerably more likely to die by lightning strike in a given year than you are to die as a train passenger.

What do you recommend for comfortably carrying infants on a train?

Personally, when traveling on trains with very young children (i.e., infants), we prefer baby-wearing. I like my Pognae, and my wife swears by her Maya Wrap ring sling. She does more baby-carrying than I do, so I’d trust her opinion more if you can’t decide between the two. I’d use either over an infant seat; they’re much lighter and take up far less space.

Thanks for the reassurance Mike. But I’m a worrier! Is there anything I can do to keep my kids just a bit safer when traveling by train?

The most dangerous part of a train is actually outside of it. Most people who die in train-related incidents die by entering the path of a moving train, whether at a railroad track (e.g., in a vehicle trying to beat a train) or at a train station (e.g., falling into the path of a train arriving at a station). The best things you can do for your children are to teach them safety rules involving trains and train tracks.

Children should be taught to stay away from train tracks unless they’re holding hands with adults. When on train platforms, they should not be anywhere near the yellow stripe. When driving, activated train gates and lights should always, always be treated as if trains are imminently approaching.

Amtrak offers a number of personal safety tips for travelers both onboard trains and at the train station. They’re worth reviewing with your children before any train trips.

Remember that the train is a safe and enjoyable way of traveling, and it is my hope that the US will invest more in our rail infrastructure to make it possible to reach more areas of the country by rail, especially given how much of a safer mode of transportation it is than the automobile.

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3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Fit a Jeep Renegade?

October 5, 2015 Mike

The Jeep Renegade is a peppy little SUV that recently became the smallest Jeep sold in the US, and one of the smallest crossovers on the market. Designed to replace the Patriot and Compass while slotting in beneath the Cherokee, the Renegade also finds itself competing with a fleet of SUVs in the ever-burgeoning small SUV / crossover market in the US. Among other competitors, it goes head to head with the Kia Sportage, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX-5, Subaru Forester, Ford Escape, Hyundai Tucson, and Mitsubishi Outlander. It’s kind of ridiculous. However, it’s a Jeep, which means it’s going to sell well. It also looks delightfully playful.

As a result, I couldn’t pass up the chance to dig into the Renegade and see if it could haul some of the most precious cargo around: 3 car seats across the back row to hold 3 rambunctious children. Giving it a try gave me bad news and good news. The bad news was, as expected, that it was a rather tight fit getting 3 of anything in that back row. The good news is that there are definitely a few seats that will work. But before going into the ones that did and didn’t work, let’s take a look at some car seat safety 101, in order to help keep your little ones as safe as possible wherever you go.

First of all, when it comes to car seat safety, the best way to do it, per our Swedish brothers and sisters, is to rear-face for as long as we can. This goes for adults too! Rear-face your infants, toddlers, and preschoolers for as long as possible (ideally until 4!), before forward-facing them in harnessed convertible or combination seats (ideally until 6, 7, or 8!). Once they outgrow their harnessed seats, it’s best to keep them restrained in high-back boosters until they’re physically and psychologically ready to use adult seat belt systems (which typically happens between 10 and 12). We want our little ones in the safest positions we know of for as long as possible to give them the greatest advantages in a collision.

With this knowledge, I made it my goal to figure out which infant, convertible, combination, and booster seats would work well together in 3 across combinations in the Jeep Renegade. I believe this list is the most detailed on the Internet, and I plan to add more seats to it over time as I get the chance to vet them. If you find the list helpful when shopping for car seats, you can shop through my Amazon link below.

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 courtesy of yours truly, the NHTSA, or Wikipedia.

2016, 2017, 2018 Jeep Renegade (BU)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian RXT (x3).

Diono Radian R120 (x3).

Diono Radian R100 (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT.

Tips and Tricks:

The current and only generation of the Jeep Renegade is a scant 167 inches long but strangely 71 inches wide, which actually makes it a better vehicle than one would expect at its size for car seat installations. Naturally, you’ll want to use your seat belts instead of LATCH anchors to make the most of your interior space. Remember that seat belts are as safe as LATCH and more space-efficient when installing multiple car seats.

Because of the length of the Renegade, if you want to make the most of your money, I’d strongly recommend Radians due to the minimal amount of space they take up with angle adjusters; your legs and front-row passengers will thank you. If you don’t need to fit 3 across, then you’ll want to check out my guide to space-saving rear-facing convertibles, as there are options that take up less front-to-back space than the Radians at the expense of a bit of width.

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Hauck Prosafe 35 Infant Car Seat Review: Safe, Affordable

October 1, 2015 Mike

I’ve been a fan of Hauck’s German car seats, strollers, portable cribs, and high chairs ever since I came across one of their artfully-designed strollers some years back. I learned about their first US-based car seat at the Las Vegas ABC Expo, and was happy to learn the Hauck Prosafe 35 (and its twin, the iCoo iGuard 35) were now available on Amazon with free shipping. I placed an order, wrote some 3 across guides while waiting, and settled down for a good review when it arrived. In short, it’s a good little infant seat that can be used to rear-face infants and toddlers who weigh between 4 and 35 pounds.

2015 Hauck Prosafe 35 – what’s the big deal?

The Hauck Prosafe 35 is a straightforward and parent-friendly infant car seat. I like it because it’s sturdy, relatively affordable, and can be used with babies big and small. It’s not my favorite infant car seat on the market, the Kiddy Evolution Pro, as you can’t use it for nearly as long before your child outgrows it. However, the Prosafe 35 does well in its own right by allowing you to rear-face your baby as long as s/he weighs between 4 and 35 pounds, and having a tall enough shell to allow you to take advantage of much of that weight limit.

The Prosafe 35 and iGuard 35 feature a number of goodies including a seatbelt lock-off, a pair of recline angles depending on the weight of your child, high end LATCH lower anchor connectors, a good amount of EPP energy-absorbing foam for buffered side impact protection, a lightweight aluminum handle with an anti-rebound feature, and a reversible infant insert that can be used to either help cool your baby or keep him or her warm.

More broadly, the Prosafe 35 / iGuard 35 is an infant seat, which means you can only use it while rear-facing, but that you can use it from the day your child leaves the hospital. Remember, however, that you can use convertible seats when leaving the hospital if you choose to.

If you use an infant seat like the Prosafe 35 / iGuard 35, you’ll definitely still want to pick up a convertible seat in a year or two to enable you to continue to rear-face. There are a number of great choices which I’ve reviewed here. The main reason to choose an infant seat like the Prosafe 35 as a first car seat instead of a convertible seat is that it’s going to be a lot lighter and easier to install.

Buy the 2015 Hauck Prosafe 35 on Sale at Amazon here.

2015 Hauck Prosafe 35 Limits for Weight and Height

Rear-facing: 4 to 35 pounds. Your child can be up to 32″ tall. The shell itself is 21″ tall, which is taller than the limits on many infant seats today, and the standard 1″ rule applies; the top of your child’s head can’t come within an inch of the top of the head support. An infant insert is included that comes in two parts: fabric and foam. You need to use the insert with the foam wedge when your baby weighs under 11 pounds, while you can choose to use the insert without the foam if your baby is between 11 and 22 pounds.

Even though the vast majority of states still permit forward-facing once your child has turned 1 (except for New Jersey!), as a reader of The Car Crash Detective, I hope you’ll consider rear-facing for longer (such as until 2, 3, or even 4 if you can), the way our Swedish brothers and sisters do. Remember that rear-facing is the safest position we know of for children of all ages.

Once your daughter or son has outgrown the Prosafe 35 by weight or height, she or he will need a convertible seat to continue rear-facing. I’ve spent years reviewing the best convertible car seats on the market here.

Dimensions and Lifespan of the Hauck Prosafe 35

The ProSafe 35 weighs 10 pounds without the base and 8 more pounds with the base attached. It’s not the lightest seat on the market by a long shot, but it’s not bad for short trips. The lowest harness position is 5.5″ without the infant insert, while the highest is 11.” The shell height tops out at 20″ when you factor in the 1″ rule.

The ProSafe 35 can be used for up to 7 years (commonly known as the car seat’s “lifespan”), and needs to be replaced once it’s been involved in a crash. Seven years after the date of manufacture, you will need to buy a new car seat (and here’s why). It also comes with a 2-year warranty, which is great, since most car seats come with a 1-year warranty.

The interior width of the ProSafe is 9″ at the base and 11″ at the shoulders; the exterior width is 14.5″ at the base and 19″ including the handles. The handle width makes it more of a challenging seat for 3 across car seat installations than an infant seat like the KeyFit 30 or B-Safe 35 Elite.

Using the Hauck Prosafe 35

Installation with base: recline and seat belt lock off

The Prosafe 35’s claim to fame is the recline lever that doubles as a seat belt lock off. Having a good recline angle is essential when transporting an infant due to their extremely small airways, which is why pretty much every infant seat base allows you to adjust the recline to accommodate your vehicle’s seat angle.

Hauck aimed to make this process easier by allowing you change your base angle without moving your base from the seat. You set the base where you want it to go and open the red lock-off. From there, you push the lock-off to the vehicle seat back and raise the base so the recline foot can drop. To reduce your recline setting, you simply push the lever once more while you allow the base to drop to your desired angle.

Since you can use the lever to lock your seat belt at the same time, you can both tighten your belt and lock your recline and belt once you get a good recline angle. The seat belt lock off isn’t necessary in modern cars, but it’s a nice bit of insurance that your belt won’t go moving once it’s in place.

When using seat belts, keep in mind that the inflatable kind (such as those found in some models of the Ford Explorer, for example) may not be used with the seat. This goes for both based and baseless installations.

You can see your recline indicator on top of the Prosafe’s base, which makes it easy to use while installing the base. You can choose between a pair of recline positions. One is for babies who weigh less than 22 pounds, while the other is for babies who weigh more.

Installation with base: LATCH

The LATCH connectors are the push-in style and work smoothly. You can store your connectors in the base in a tiny compartment for each connector. The manual can also be stored in the base. You can buy an extra base (handy for installing the seat quickly in multiple vehicles) here.

LATCH borrowing in the center is allowed if the vehicle’s manufacturer allows you to do so and if there is less than 22″ between the two anchors. Most vehicles don’t allow LATCH borrowing, so keep that in mind before attempting to do so and make sure it’s specifically permitted in the manual.

Installation without base

The baseless installation for the Prosafe 35 is also straightforward, thanks to the large and flat base of the infant seat, which makes the installation stable. You can use a pool noodle to firm up the installation if necessary, but you probably won’t need it. A good safety tip is to angle the handle toward the back of the vehicle’s seat to give you anti-rebound protection; the handle is made of aluminum and designed to offer such protection.

Child Fit

I tried the Prosafe 35 with a variety of training dolls and children and it did a great job with just about all of them. Because the harness height starts at 5,” infant inserts are available, and the crotch positions are adjustable, it’s a very flexible seat for infants of all sizes. The largest child I tried was 12 months old, 30.5″ tall, and 24 pounds; she still had a good amount of room in terms of height and shoulder width, which means this is an infant seat you’re likely going to be able to use up to a year and maybe a bit past it before switching to a convertible.

Regarding the infant insert, there are two parts to keep in mind: fabric and foam. You use the fabric insert with foam when your baby weighs between 4 and 11 pounds, and you use the fabric insert without the foam when your baby weighs between 11 and 22 pounds. There are two fabric choices available with the insert; one is grey and smooth while the other is fuzzy and white. The slick fabric is better in hot weather while the fuzzy one is better in cold weather, but you can use either at any time.

The crotch strap is like the recline settings for the Prosafe 35 in that you can choose between two positions: one is for when babies weigh less than 22 pounds, while the other is for when they weigh more.

There are a pair of harness loops to choose from; unfortunately, you don’t get a no-rethread harness here, as you do in a seat like the Click Connect 40. The upper loops are designed to be used with babies at the 4-11 pound range, and the loops fit into the lowest harness slots available in the shell. The three higher slots are designed to be used with the loops for babies who weigh more than 8 pounds. The instructions are repeated on labels sewn into the harness loops, so don’t worry if you forget ahead of time.

Additional goodies

Additional things I like about the Prosafe 35 include its compatibility with a pair of strollers, the iCoo Acrobat and the Hauck Twister. According to Hauck, more strollers and adapters compatible with the Prosafe 35 will be released next year.

I’m a fan of the machine-washable cover included with the Prosafe 35. I also like how easy it is to install and remove the canopy and cover on the seat. I’m not a fan of the fact that you need to spot clean both the harness and the canopy, but the harness spot cleaning is pretty standard across most car seats due to the importance of not damaging the fabric with harsh detergents.

As is the case with most infant car seats, the Prosafe 35 can be used on airplanes per the FAA. However, it can only be used without the base; for some reason, the base isn’t FAA approved. This just means you’ll use a seat belt install with the seat.

Buy the 2015 Hauck Prosafe 35 on Sale at Amazon here.

Why Buy the Hauck Prosafe 35?

In the end, there are a lot of infant seats to choose from today in the United States, which can make the process of bringing your baby home in one a bit of a challenge. You can choose from models like the safe and popular Chicco KeyFit 30 to what I consider the best infant seat on the market today, the Kiddy Evolution Pro. The best reasons to base purchasing decisions on car seats, in my opinion, involve how well the seats do keeping children safe. For me, that starts with rear-facing.

Unless you have a child with very special needs, such as a highly premature infant who is in need of an infant bed, your infant should start out rear-facing in either an infant seat or in a convertible seat in the rear-facing position. I prefer starting out with infant seats since they’re lighter and since you can install multiple bases to effortlessly move seats from one vehicle to the next.

Infant seats also make it much easier to transfer sleeping infants from the vehicle to the home, or vice versa. That said, no infant seat, not even the best available today in the United States, the Kiddy Evolution Pro, will get your child to age 4, which is where I believe we need to aim for when it comes to rear-facing, the way the Swedes do. To get to 4, you’re going to need to switch to a convertible seat somewhere along the way; I’ve reviewed plenty of these here.

However, even though it won’t get you to 4, the Prosafe 35 will almost certainly get you past 1, and will keep your child safe and cozy inside it all the while. More importantly, you’ll get a secure installation without much trouble, which is essential when you keep in mind how many car seats are improperly installed each day. I heartily recommend the Hauck Prosafe 35, and you can buy it here in black. You can buy an extra base here. You can buy the Prosafe 35 with the Twister Plus stroller here or with the iCoo Acrobat Plus stroller here. Unfortunately, it’s not available in Canada, but the closest Canadian equivalent I’d recommend is the KeyFit 30, available here.

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3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Fit a Nissan Versa Note?

September 27, 2015 Mike

The Nissan Versa Note, the hatchback wagon version of the Nissan Versa, is one of the more popular entries in the subcompact (minicar) market in the United States. Buyers like it because it’s one of the cheapest cars you can buy new today in the US, and because it’s also pretty reliable and a decent deal for the money. It competes with a range of other gas-sippers like the Toyota Prius C, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, and Chevrolet Sonic.

The funny thing about the Versa Note is that it’s actually been available in other countries for a number of years (since 2004), where it’s known simply as the Nissan Note. However, Nissan decided to split the sedan and hatchback lines recently for the US market and rebadge the overseas Note as the Versa Note here in the US. Time will tell if they see success with this approach.

I had the privilege of borrowing a Versa Note this weekend in order to see if I could squeeze some car seats into it. The bad news is that it wasn’t an easy task, but the good news is that was possible at all. This is one of those cars that’ll make you be thankful for narrow seats by the time you’re done with a successful 3 across installation. First, though, let’s look at which kinds of seats are good to use in various stages of development.

First of all, try to rear-face your kids as long as you can (ideally until 4!), before forward-facing them in harnessed convertible or combination seats (ideally until 8!). Rear-facing offers the greatest protection for kids of all ages, and there are a number of seats (such as the Fllo / Foonf) that will let them rear-face through the preschool years. Once they outgrow their harnessed seats, I suggest keeping them in high-back boosters until they’re physically and psychologically ready to use adult seat belt systems (which typically happens between 10 and 12). What we want to do is keep our kids restrained in the safest positions for as long as possible to increase their odds of surviving crash forces.

Keeping these ideas in mind, I set to work to find which infant, convertible, combination, and booster seats would work best in 3 across combinations in the Nissan Versa Note. I found several good options and a few great ones. 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.

2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 Nissan Versa Note (E12)

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).

Tips and Tricks:

The current generation of the Nissan Versa Note is 162 inches long and 67 inches wide, making it one of the narrowest vehicles I’ve ever tried to stuff 3 car seats into. However, it’s definitely possible if you use the seat belts (no way no how when it comes to LATCH) and take your time.

Out of the above convertibles, to be honest, I’d really just go with the Fllo or Foonf, as the Radians will take up a lot of front-to-back space that you really don’t have, while the Coccoro won’t be the best value for your money unless you have the specific needs to merit it over the Fllo / Foonf. If you insist on using one of the Radians, you’ll definitely need the angle adjuster, or you’re not going to have much front-passenger space, and it’ll be a painful experience for tall drivers or passengers. If you’re looking for infant / bucket seats, the KeyFit 30 is a good narrow choice.

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35,000 Americans will die this year on the road. You don't have to be one of them. A car seat and car safety blog to promote best practices for families.