Car seats and the Honda Element

Traquy

New member
I love my Honda Element very much and have no regrets buying it, however as the car seat techs probably know they can be a big PITA especially for rear facing seats. I wanted to have a thread for anyone who might be in here looking for car seat info and the Element. I wish I had good pictures of my daughter and her seat placement when she was rear facing but unfortunately I never took any (didn't even think about it until later). I may put my Marathon in rear facing tomorrow just to get a good shot though, it wouldn't take long.

Basically, installation isn't really the problem. I have found both RF and FF to be fairly easy to actually install correct and solid. Both back seats have easy to access LATCH and locking seat belts and both positions have tethering hooks in the cargo area (you can see the tether on the Frontier, I need to hook up the Marathon). It's getting the child in/out RF that is the big PITA. Once they are front facing it's a piece-o-cake, and the best kid car ever. My daughter loves it. Here are a few pics of her Marathon 65 and her new Frontier in the back seat. You can see from the pics how far back the car seats are from the door entry which is what makes rear facing a pain (but is also thre greatest thing ever since she can't reach my seat to kick it, and has 6 inches until she will be able too). I would imagine it is similar to RF in a 2 door coup only it's harder for a small child to climb up themselves with the high seats.

Shot of the full back seat, no kid.

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Back seat with kid (3 yrs, 33lbs 39", long torso)

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Frontal shot of kid. She does still fit fine in the Marathon with one shoulder slot to go, I just got a super great deal on the Frontier and decided to go ahead and get it now. I always need a spare seat anyway.

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As you can see from the pictures, there is no center position in the back seat. It is 2 seats both with cupholders (also awesome) which is great for hauling things since you can take one seat out for more cargo space and still have one child in their car seat in the back (we do this for camping/road trips). My daughter loves the high position and good view. She complains she can't see when she rides in my husbands Honda Civic. And I always have to give a shout out to the rubber floormats and NO CARPET! So.much.easier to clean in every way. The seats are also stain resistant and easy to wipe off (though I see a goober or two in the pictures). I always used to change her diapers on the floor of the backseat. Throw down a baby blanket and you have the perfect changing table.

Safety can't be beat. Just look up the safety ratings and it will tell the story. I know several people on the Element owners message board that have had pretty severe accidents and rollovers and walked away. I am always amazed to see rollover pictures of Elements where the roof isn't even caved in at all, just scratched up.

ETA: I had to add this picture not because it has anything at all to do with this thread but just because I think it's hilarious and have to share it as much as possible. She was 5lb 11oz at birth, now she is 90% for height. She sure caught up. :) (disclaimer: She was NOT fully "installed" in the seat yet, and my husband was only carrying her down 4 floors to her doc visit while we were in the hospital...no car ride). I do have to say that the Britax Companion worked great for our small baby, we had no problems at all with fit. The side impact cushion was great, it kept us from having to roll up a receiving blanket every time we put her in.

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Traquy

New member
Thank you Judi for the link! That was the shot of the side with the rear facing Marathon I was going to take tomorrow.

If I had done extended rear facing with Ellie like I had planned on doing, I probably would have started doing that. As it was I turned her FF at 18m (I know I know, very young) and up until I turned her around I would lift her over the top (she wasn't very heavy). I'll tell the story of why I turned her around sometime, but for now I need to get to bed.
 

Traquy

New member
Putting a rear facing kid in through the back is a work around, but in all practicality it's still a big pain compared to doing the same in a regular 4 door car/suv or minivan.
 

Judi

CPST/Firefighter
Well no, but you basically bought a two door car. They aren't made for ease with kids. :shrug-shoulders:
 

Traquy

New member
I knew what I was getting into. Just putting the info out there for anyone considering an Element that has or is going to have kids.
 

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