The Mercedes C-Class sedan is one of the safest cars you can buy these days in the United States when it comes to its ability to help you survive a side impact crash, and is also one of the safest cars on the market in terms of actual driver death rates. I’ve written about side impact ratings and ranked the best cars for surviving side collisions here, as well as the safest cars for families in terms of driver survival here, and the C-Class is one of the most side impact-resistant cars out there at the moment, as well as one of the cars drivers are least likely to die in, with a driver death rate of 7 and 10 in the 4WD and 2WD ’08-’11 models respectively. In other words, much like its bigger sibling the E-Class, it’s a safe car.
Partly due to its reputation for safety and partly due to its MB legacy , the C-Class sedan also competes well within the mid-sized luxury market (which includes vehicles like the Acura TLX, Infiniti Q50, Volvo S60, BMW 3 Series, and Audi A4) among families interested in safe and comfortable transportation for themselves and their little ones. Let’s take a look at how the C-Class sedan does in the most practical of quests: fitting 3 car seats across its back row of seats. Before doing so, however, a quick review of best practices in seating choices is always useful.
I always advocate beginning with rear-facing, and continuing to do so with young children for as long as possible (ideally until 4!). After rear-facing, next comes forward-facing in harnessed convertible or combination seats (ideally until 8!). Once kids are too big for forward-facing harnessed seats, booster seats are the next step until they pass the 5-step test for using adult vehicle seats and adult seat belts (which typically happens between 10 and 12). The longer you keep your kids safely restrained, the better their odds of crash survival.
With these ideas in mind, I borrowed a few C-Class sedans and tried out a variety of convertible, infant, and combination seats to see which 3 across car seat combinations were most likely to work for most parents. The list is small, but it’s accurate. 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.
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 Wikipedia.
2015, 2016, 2017 Mercedes C-Class
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).
Diono Radian RXT (x3).
Diono Radian R120 (x3).
Diono Radian R100 (x3).
Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco TurboBooster.
Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco Nautilus.
Britax Parkway SGL, Britax Boulevard G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Graco Snugride 35, Britax Boulevard G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Boulevard G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Britax Parkway SGL, Britax Marathon G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Graco Snugride 35, Britax Marathon G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Marathon G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Tips and Tricks:
The current generation of the Mercedes C-Class is 185 inches long and 71 inches wide, which places it on the narrower end of most mid-sized family cars. It’s narrower than a Camry or Accord, for instance. That said, it’s wider than a Civic, and there’s a lot of potential within it if you’re willing to take your time and use seat belt installations instead of the LATCH system, which I always recommend doing in 3 across setups.
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Mercedes C-Class
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).
Diono Radian RXT (x3).
Diono Radian R120 (x3).
Diono Radian R100 (x3).
Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco TurboBooster.
Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco Nautilus.
Britax Parkway SGL, Britax Boulevard G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Graco Snugride 35, Britax Boulevard G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Boulevard G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Britax Parkway SGL, Britax Marathon G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Graco Snugride 35, Britax Marathon G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Marathon G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT.
Tips and Tricks:
The 2009-2014 generation of the Mercedes C-Class is 182 inches long and 70 inches wide, or 3 inches shorter and 1 inch narrower than the succeeding generation. It’s still a decent vehicle for 3 across setups, but you’ll have to work for it a bit more than you would with the newest C-Class. Again, take your time, use your seat belts for additional side-to-side room, and you’ll find a lot more combinations are possible than what you’d expect from a peek at the back seat.
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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.
3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Fit an Infiniti QX60 / JX35?
The Infiniti QX60 (formerly known as the JX35) is Infiniti’s mid-sized luxury crossover SUV, and Infiniti’s counterpart to the Nissan Pathfinder, on which it is based. The QX60 competes with an ever-growing number of 3-row mid-to-large sized luxury crossovers, including the Volvo XC90, Acura MDX, BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GL-Class, Buick Enclave, Land Rover Range Rover Sport, Cadillac Escalade, Audi Q7, and of course the Nissan Pathfinder, despite that not being a luxury SUV.
Because it shares a platform (and close external and internal design features) with the Pathfinder, I expected there to be little, if any difference, between the two vehicles when it came to their abilities to fit 3 car seats across the 2nd row and an extra 2 as needed in the 3rd row, and that turned out to be the case. The Pathfinder and QX60 are about as different as the Traverse and the Enclave, which does make things easier for parents looking for information on car seat compatibility. At any rate, I decided it was still worth making a 3 across guide for the QX60 / JX35, so here we are. Before getting into the details, here’s a quick primer on why using different types of car seats at different stages of your child’s development is essential.
First of all, car seat safety starts with rear-facing from the day your child leaves the hospital, and for many years to come, due to the safety advantages it provides over forward-facing. Rear-facing is the way to go even if it takes you through the preschool years (ideally until 4!). Once you can’t fit your child in a rear-facing seat anymore, forward-face him or her in harnessed convertible or combination seats (ideally until at least 5 or 6!). Once your children 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). The overriding goal is safety, which comes from using certain kinds of seats at certain times.
My results of car seat puzzling and juggling in the Nissan Pathfinder are below. It’s not a complete list, but as with all of my 3 across guides, it’s my goal to make it the most complete on the Internet over time, especially as I get access to more seats. 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.
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 Wikipedia.
2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Infiniti QX60 / JX35
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Peg Perego Flex 120 (x3).
Maxi-Cosi RodiFix (x3).
Diono Radian RXT (x3).
Diono Radian R120 (x3).
Diono Radian R100 (x3).
Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).
Clek Oobr (x3).
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Graco Size4Me 65 (x3).
Graco Contender (x3).
Clek Fllo, Graco Size4Me 65, Diono Radian / RXT.
Clek Fllo, Graco Size4Me 65 (x2).
Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT (x2).
Graco TurboBooster, Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT.
Graco TurboBooster, Diono Radian / RXT (x2).
Tips and Tricks:
The current generation of the Infiniti QX60 / JX35 is 197 inches long and 77 inches wide (exactly the same as the Pathfinder). As a result, your 3 across odds are going to be strong with nearly any combination of seats you can put together. However, to make this work, you’ll need to use your seat belts. Why? The LATCH anchors in the QX60 (both in the outboard 2nd row positions) are relatively close together, so if you try to use them with 3 seats, there will probably be many seats you can’t get to work, despite the width of the SUV. Use the seat belts to maximize your space.
A downside to the current generation QX60 is that there aren’t any lower LATCH anchors in the third row. You can get around this easily by using the seat belt there, but you can’t get around the downside of only having a single tether anchor in the 3rd row. It’s located behind the passenger outboard seat, and you can easily confuse it with a number of cargo hooks behind the 3rd row. Tethering while forward-facing is important for safety, so if you need to forward-face multiple children, keep them in the 2nd row, as there are 3 tether anchors available for the three 2nd row seats.
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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.
3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Will Fit a Lexus NX?
The Lexus NX, or “Nimble Crossover,” is Lexus’ newest offering to the growing compact luxury crossover market, and is a small and sleek SUV with an impressive array of safety features. It features good frontal overlap scores, good side scores and roof scores, and even comes with front crash prevention systems in higher trim levels. Classified by the IIHS as a mid-sized luxury SUV, the NX competes with more established offerings in the 5-passenger luxury crossover market like the Volvo XC60, BMW X3, Acura RDX, Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class, and its larger stablemate, the Lexus RX, among families interested in transporting up to 5-passengers without the heft and length of a 3-row luxury vehicle.
Because luxury-minded parents of small children are likely to cross shop the NX with the aforementioned SUVs, I wanted to see how competitive it was from a 3 across standpoint. In other words, how easy is it to install 3 car seats across the back row of a Lexus NX? Is it even possible, given the NX’s platform similarities to the Toyota Rav4, a vehicle notorious for overlapping seat belts and impossible 3 across installations?
Unfortunately, it’s not. I’ll go into why in a moment, as well as information on which options you do have for car seat installations in the NX. Before that, however, here are some best practice recommendations regardless of how many car seats you’re installing, and which vehicles you’re installing them inside.
The safest configuration we know of when it comes to vehicle safety is rear-facing. I recommend rear-facing your children long past age 1, which is the legal requirement in most states, and going well into the preschool years (ideally until 4!), before forward-facing them in harnessed convertible or combination seats (ideally until 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.
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 Lexus NX. It’s my goal to make this list the most thorough on the Internet. 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.
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.
2015, 2016 Lexus NX
Guaranteed 3 across installations: None!
The Lexus NX is unfortunately not capable of safely installing 3 car seats across the back row, due to the ridiculously overlapping seat belts in the back seat between the center and driver’s side outboard seats. This is also the case with the Toyota Rav4, upon which the Lexus NX is based, and all signs point to this continuing to be a “feature” of the Rav4, despite Toyota’s continued insistence that it is a 5-person vehicle.
While overlapping seat belts in and of themselves don’t automatically exclude a vehicle from 3 across capabilities (the Highlander has overlapping belts but is still a decent 3 across vehicle, for example), when the belts overlap to a significant degree (as in the current generation Corolla, Rogue, or CX-5), 3 across becomes an impossibility for safety reasons. I’ve included 2 car seat arrangements that will work easily given the available space in the NX, but until Lexus corrects this, the NX will remain a 2-across vehicle.
Clek Fllo (x2).
Clek Foonf (x2).
Britax Advocate ClickTight (x2).
Britax Boulevard ClickTight (x2).
Britax Marathon ClickTight (x2).
Britax Advocate G4.1 (x2).
Britax Boulevard G4.1 (x2).
Britax Marathon G4.1 (x2).
Diono Rainier (x2).
Diono Pacifica (x2).
Diono Radian RXT (x2).
Diono Radian R120 (x2).
Diono Radian R100 (x2).
Graco Size4Me 65 (x2).
Graco Contender (x2).
Combi Coccoro (x2).
Tips and Tricks:
The current and only generation of the Lexus NX is 180 inches long and 73 inches wide, which means you’ll have a good amount of space for any 2 car seats, though not 3 (see above). Use your seat belts to get as much space as possible for the wider seats, and remember that you can only install 2 seats in the outboard positions (i.e., behind the driver and behind the passenger seats) or in the center and passenger outboard positions. You cannot install 2 seats at the driver and center positions due to the overlapping belt issue.
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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.
3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Fit a Mitsubishi Outlander?
The Mitsubishi Outlander is, on paper, one of the safest small SUVs you can buy. It has good small overlap, moderate overlap, side, and roof scores, as well as a decent amount of front crash prevention technology available in optional trim packages. It’s also one of the few small SUVs on the market with a 3rd row option. It competes with a bevy of small and compact crossovers in the US market, including the Kia Sportage, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX-5, Subaru Forester, Ford Escape, Jeep Compass, Hyundai Tucson, and Jeep Patriot. In other words, it’s got company, which is part of why a number of parents might not know about it. But those who do tend to be quite loyal fans of the Outlander.
As a result, when I had the opportunity to look into the Outlander’s performance in puzzling 3 car seats across the back row (and a few extra in the 3rd row), I couldn’t pass it up. This 3 across guide covers several generations of the Outlander, and while it’s not as large of a list as I’d like it to be, it’s already the largest on the Internet. Before going into the car seats I was and wan’t able to squeeze into that back rows, let’s take a quick look at some basic elements of car seat safety, in terms of which seats to use and when in order to keep your kids as safe as possible while on the road.
The safest configuration we know of when it comes to vehicle safety is rear-facing. This goes for adults as well! 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 at least 5 or 6!). 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.
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 Mitsubishi Outlander. It’s my goal to make this list the most thorough on the Internet. 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.
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 Wikipedia.
2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Clek Oobr (x3).
Peg Perego Flex 120 (x3).
Maxi-Cosi RodiFix (3).
Chicco KeyFIt 30 (x3).
Diono Radian RXT (x3).
Diono Radian R120 (x3).
Diono Radian R100 (x3).
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Clek Oobr (x2), Chicco KeyFIt 30.
Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT.
Tips and Tricks:
The current generation of the Mitsubishi Outlander is 183 inches long and 71 inches wide. This is on the longer end for a small SUV, but it’s also on the narrower end. And when you consider the fact that there’s a 3rd row squeezed in behind the 2nd, you quickly realize that you’re going to have more challenges fitting car seats into this vehicle than you’d like. However, let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons.
Good things about the current generation Outlander are that you can remove the head restraints if you need to, and that you can move the back row seats a bit forward and backward, which helps with leg room flexibility since you’re not dealing with a particularly long vehicle.
Bad things about the Outlander primarily involve the center seat in the 2nd row; it’s a very, very narrow one, and when you’ve got car seats in the outboard positions, it feels even narrower. The head restraint above this seat is also a short one. More importantly, there is a slight crossover between the buckle stalks in the center and those on the driver’s outboard side, which is often the kiss of death for car seat installations. The Radians, for example, will fit in that center position, but won’t fit as well as I’d like them to. Additionally, you can’t adjust the shoulder belt height in the 2nd row, which makes booster use more challenging than it should be.
The 3rd row goes from bad to worse. It’s better than the 3rd row in the 2nd gen Outlander, but it’s still hard to get to and you aren’t allowed to use any rear-facing seats there; everything’s got to be forward-facing, per the owner’s manual. This is almost certainly due to the short amount of space between the 2nd and 3rd row. Beyond that, you don’t have access to any top tether anchors in this row, which is significant when forward-facing tethering is important and since you’re pretty much only going to be forward-facing anyway. Oh, and you can’t sit there if you’re taller than 5’3″, per Mitsubishi. There’s also pretty much no leg room and the seat cushions are practically nonexistent. Don’t try to use the 3rd row with anyone but perhaps short kids and pre-teens in boosters. To be honest, they probably won’t be happy there either. However, it’s definitely possible to fit them there.
Because of the length of the vehicle, 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.
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Mitsubishi Outlander
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Clek Oobr (x3).
Peg Perego Flex 120 (x3).
Maxi-Cosi RodiFix (3).
Chicco KeyFIt 30 (x3).
Diono Radian RXT (x3).
Diono Radian R120 (x3).
Diono Radian R100 (x3).
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Clek Oobr (x2), Chicco KeyFIt 30.
Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT.
Tips and Tricks:
The second gen of the Mitsubishi Outlander is around 183 inches long and just under 71 inches wide, or just about the same as the 3rd generation. The fact that you can fit 7 passengers into a vehicle this length is impressive. However, when it comes to car seats, you’ll again have a narrow selection to choose from due to the narrowness of the vehicle and the nearly impossible-to-use center 2nd row seat (see the extended information in the write-up for the 3rd generation Outlander above). As before, use your seat belts for every installation; LATCH will rob you of extremely valuable real estate.
Once again, because of the length of the vehicle, 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.
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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 bookmark and shop through this Amazon link. Canadians can bookmark and shop through this link.
3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Will Fit in an Audi A6?
The Audi A6 is one of the safest cars you can buy today in the US in two very important areas: side impact crash protection and driver death rates. To put it another way, nearly every other car on the road will crush more when t-boned than a current generation Audi A6, and the Audi A6 is also one of only four cars (along with its stablemate the Audi A4, the Mercedes E-Class sedan and Subaru Legacy) to have ever been estimated to have had zero driver deaths in a three year period by the IIHS. In other words, this is one of the safest cars you can buy.
With that said, it’s no surprise that the A6 competes favorably with other large luxury cars sold in the US, including the aforementioned Mercedes E-Class, BMW 5-Series and 7-series, and Volvo S80. It’s also chosen by a surprising number of families interested in luxury, style, and safety for spouses and little ones. To that end, I borrowed one from a friend to figure out how well it does when it comes to the practical and often frustrating task of fitting 3 car seats safely across the back seat. Before we go into which seats worked and which seats didn’t, it’s worth reviewing what kinds of seats are best for certain ages of kids.
First of all, infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are safest when rear-facing. I recommend rear-facing as long as you can (ideally until 4!), before forward-facing them in harnessed convertible or combination seats (ideally until 8!). 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 Audi A6. 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.
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 Wikipedia.
2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 Audi A6
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Graco Size4Me 65 (x3).
Chicco KeyFit 30, Clek Foonf, Chicco KeyFit 30.
Chicco KeyFit 30, Clek Fllo, Chicco KeyFit 30.
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Clek Fllo, Graco Contender, Diono Radian / RXT.
Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT.
Clek Fllo, Graco Contender, Graco Head Wise 70.
Clek Fllo, Graco Size4Me 65, Diono Radian / RXT.
Tips and Tricks:
The current generation of the Audi A6 is 194 inches long and 74 inches wide, which means you’re going to have an easier time with 3 across installations than you would in most other cars, including the E-Class sedan to which it’s frequently compared. You’ll want to use your seat belts on all three seats to get the most space, however, and leave LATCH for times when you’ve only got one or two seats to install.
If you’re looking for the most reliable seats to make 3 across work in the A6, and don’t want to struggle with scraped knuckles and difficult installations, I’d just go with 3 Fllos, 3 Foonfs, or 3 RXTs. They’re among the narrowest seats on the market and I’ve yet to find a vehicle that can’t make them work in 3 across setups. All of these seats can be used to rear-face from birth (the Fllos and Foonfs will require the Infant-Thingy insert to do so) until your kids weigh 50 pounds (45 with the Radians) and can then be turned forward-facing for additional time.
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Audi A6
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Graco Size4Me 65 (x3).
Chicco KeyFit 30, Clek Foonf, Chicco KeyFit 30.
Chicco KeyFit 30, Clek Fllo, Chicco KeyFit 30.
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Clek Fllo, Graco Contender, Diono Radian / RXT.
Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT.
Clek Fllo, Graco Contender, Graco Head Wise 70.
Clek Fllo, Graco Size4Me 65, Diono Radian / RXT.
Tips and Tricks:
The 2005-2011 generation of the Audi A6 is 194 inches long and 73 inches wide, or only 1 inch narrower than the succeeding generation. In other words, for 3 across purposes, the cars are going to be very similar in feasibility, although you’ll have an easier time in the following generation than you will in this one. As always, focus on seat belt installations and leave LATCH behind if your goal is to get all 3 seats to work 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.