Three Across in Back Row of Sienna?

We are considering buying a new, 2015 Sienna, to replace my 2008 Sienna, which I can then pass down to DH to replace his Ford Focus, so that we each drive vehicles that can hold all our children. (Me the 2015 Sienna and him the 2008 Sienna.)

We LOVE our current Sienna, but a huge part of that is the ability to pull out one of the middle row captain seats so I can easily climb in to get everyone buckled. We live where it gets very cold and snowy, and it is wonderful to have a "staging area" to get coats on everyone before we get out of the van.

However, we are expecting our fourth child next year, so if I want to maintain that setup, we will have to fit 3 across in the back row (preferably in both vans). Here is what we will be dealing with when the new baby comes:

KIDS:
FF 6.5 year old - super tall and skinny
FF 4.25 year old - tall and chunky
RF 2 year old - tall and skinny
RF newborn - probably big, I tend to have 9 lb. babies

CARSEATS:
2 Britax Frontiers
1 Radian (which is currently sitting on a shelf because I refuse to use it RF)
1 Britax B-Safe

We currently have one Britax Marathon and one Britax Roundabout 50, but they are both expiring before the baby is born.

We will obviously have to buy more car seats to seat all the kids in both vans. I am very open to suggestions. In general, we love Britax carseats.

Do you think there is any chance of putting my oldest in the middle of the back in a Frontier (harnessed since it would be very hard to reach the seatbelt buckle) and putting the youngest two on either side of him RF in the B-Safe and something else (that ISN'T a Radian)? Then my 4 year old could sit in the middle row captain seat FF in the Radian. This would be a good place for him because he has a severe speech delay, and having him closer to me makes communication much easier.

Other ideas or advice?

Thanks,
Wendy

Hello, Wendy, and welcome to car-seat.org! Toyota made a major model change starting with 2011 Siennas, so a 2015 will be significantly different than the one you have. One idea you might consider is getting an 8-passenger minivan, and putting two children in each row. I *believe* that Honda, Toyota, and Kia all make a new 8 passenger minivan. I haven't heard much about the new Sedona (major model changes effective 2015, I think), but the 8 passenger Odyssey has a reputation for having a very usable 8th seat; the current generation Sienna, less so. I haven't had a chance to get inside any of those 9 passenger minivans, but I think that you can typically take out one of the 2nd row seats and have the two remaining seats positioned outboard and center, leaving the "staging area" that you find to be helpful.

If you're pretty sure that you'd rather get a 7 passenger minivan and do 3 across the back, then just let us know, but do know that it is likely to be pretty tricky regardless of the seats and the setup! Minivan 3rd rows are notoriously tight (although I don't know specifically about the 2015 Sienna 3rd row).

jjordan said:

One idea you might consider is getting an 8-passenger minivan, and putting two children in each row.

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We considered that, but we are really hoping to get an all wheel drive minivan and the only one that offers that is the 7 passenger Sienna.

What about my oldest being in the Radian in the middle of the backseat? That should take up considerably less space than the Frontier. And then my 4 year old in the Frontier in the middle row captain and the younger two flanking the oldest in the back where there is a big brother helper to replace pacifiers.

Thanks,
Wendy

I have a 2013 Sienna and do occasionally put my kids 3 across in the back. I'm not sure if they added more tether anchors to the 2015 or not so my different configurations are all with any forward facing harnessed seat in the center.

Center: pretty much any forward facing seat you want. Driver side. You are pretty much locked into a radian or coccoro. There is very little room there. Passenger side: almost any seat will work

Just wanted to add that even with the radian center you still have very little room on the driver side because of the way the 3rd row splits.

Fwiw. I drive a 2013 awd sienna. At one point I did have my frontier 85 center 3rd and could really only fit a radian to the one side and maybe a bubblebum on the other. I find the radians really hard to install in the 3rd row outboard so much so that every tech I've had install them still leaves them so they submarine off and slide forward when the front part of the seat is pulled on. It's like the belt gets caught and creased so that it feels tight side to side, but it's not.
We have a rf boulevard for my 1 yo behind the driver and did have the infant seat passenger captain at one point. My 4yo is now passenger 2nd in the frontier and the older two are 3rd row in a hbb and I just transitioned the one radian to another hbb.
Even with the infant seat 2nd passenger my 2 older ones could still exit curbside for school drop off line (with all 4 kids in tow) as long as I had the front passenger seat moved up. Not the setting for travel while occupied but dh had to remember to move it back when he got out of the car for the school week!
I personally never liked my younger ones far from me because my older 2 are in school full days and weren't going to be there to be helpers in the car anyway.

scoutingbear said:

Center: pretty much any forward facing seat you want. Driver side. You are pretty much locked into a radian or coccoro. There is very little room there. Passenger side: almost any seat will work

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New idea. What about if I put FF Radians in both the 3rd row outboard positions. The 4 year old could be harnessed on the passenger side (with anchor) and the 6 year old could use the seat as a booster on the driver's side (without anchor). The infant seat in the middle of the back could be installed using the seatbelt to avoid covering up the driver's side seat belt buckle that my oldest would need. The 2 year old would be RF in the middle row.

Do you think the 6 year old would be able to reach the seat belt buckle?

smiley said:

Fwiw. I personally never liked my younger ones far from me because my older 2 are in school full days and weren't going to be there to be helpers in the car anyway.

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We homeschool, so I almost always travel with all the kids.

Thanks,
Wendy

If you do have the top tether outboard that might be possible but I think a rear facing only (infant seat) might be too wide. You would need to install everything with seatbelt but use the top tether for forward facing kids. Reaching the seatbelt between the middle and driver side is a royal pain. My 10 year old with magic hands can do it but I can't.

wendyroo said:

New idea. What about if I put FF Radians in both the 3rd row outboard positions. The 4 year old could be harnessed on the passenger side (with anchor) and the 6 year old could use the seat as a booster on the driver's side (without anchor). The infant seat in the middle of the back could be installed using the seatbelt to avoid covering up the driver's side seat belt buckle that my oldest would need. The 2 year old would be RF in the middle row.

Do you think the 6 year old would be able to reach the seat belt buckle?



We homeschool, so I almost always travel with all the kids.

Thanks,
Wendy

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I just tried yesterday during the warm weather to get my KeyFit 30 in the 3rd row center and it did not work well. I had a hard time getting it tight and then it completely blocked the two side kids getting in and out, so that the baby would have to go in last, which is not going to happen in the cold weather.

When I bought the Toyota Sienna, I had 3 Radians which I loved, but they were SOOOOOOOOOO obnoxious to put in the third row of that car that I sold them all. IMO, I only like the Radian if you can LATCH it, and then you are subject to the new, lower LATCH weight limits, so it kind of defeats the point. Also, they were hard to get in RFing and DH would swear and complain the whole time.

Now that high-weight limit LATCH seats are kind of obsolete, I will just start buying the Britax ClickTight seats.