Three Frontier 85s across

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
Yep, 3 Frontiers will fit in an Armada 2nd row. Easily. Without touching. The center seat will either have to tether to the seat belt buckle for the third row center, though the gap between the back and bottom of the third row seat to the third row center tether anchor, or to the third row center tether anchor with the third row folded.

I miss my Armada.:(
 
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canadiangie

New member
A few things here...

Ive worked in enough Armadas to know they are deliciously spacious..

And You may fit 3 frontiers across your 2nd row and find things are great while the seats are used in harness mode. But once you convert to booster mode I would fully expect that reaching your hand between seats to buckle will be a nightmare.

For this reason I would be re-thinking the frontiers entirely.

I would be looking at Sunshine Kids Radians which are the narrowest harnessed seat on the market.

Once your twins are ready for boosters you go out and buy the narrowest boosters (that fit your kids properly of course) and do booster-radian-booster. You will have enough room to reach your hand in. And at some point you may even find your kids are able to reach down and buckle (around age 8 or so?).

Right now the 'narrow booster' market is wide open. It's the one thing we don't have.... a good narrow booster. As booster technology continues to evolve, and demand for something narrow continues I think we will see one in the next few years.

Looking to the future, and keeping in mind you do not want to use your 3rd row, I think that 3 frontiers is about the last seat combination I would choose.

Just my .02 cents...
 

Steph230

New member
Thanks everyone!
safeinthecar-did you have 3 big seats across when you had your Armada?

As for the tether anchor for the middle seat, once my youngest was almost ready to move FF, I started researching how to tether the middle seat. Decided i wanted another anchor it it could safely be done. Talked to Britax, my CPS crew here, engineers at Nissan, my CPS crew consulted with people they knew around the country, you name them, I called them. Anyway, we got another tether anchor and had my dealer install it. It was quite the ordeal having engineers figure out the best position and attaching it to the car frame. After it was done, I had a tether anchor for my middle seat! It was worth the trouble to me to have it done. Tethering to the third row wasn't practical for us bc it was really in the way.

I have wondered if I am the only person who has done this bc most people think I was nuts for doing all that to have an additional anchor installed. I keep my cars for a while so when I bought this in 2005 I knew it would be my car til at least 2015. Worth it to me to have it installed and be done with it.

Like I said, I am a paranoid mama! :)
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Just an idea -- if you do decide that three different seats would be a better fit, would it work if you let each child choose their own seat? It's what I do with my charges -- pull up the seat that I've decided is the best fit for them, and then allow them to choose "which one" (aka which cover) they want. Then they have say in the decision-making process and ownership over the seat. It might make your life easier with the calendar, too. ;)
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
Thanks everyone!
safeinthecar-did you have 3 big seats across when you had your Armada?

As for the tether anchor for the middle seat, once my youngest was almost ready to move FF, I started researching how to tether the middle seat. Decided i wanted another anchor it it could safely be done. Talked to Britax, my CPS crew here, engineers at Nissan, my CPS crew consulted with people they knew around the country, you name them, I called them. Anyway, we got another tether anchor and had my dealer install it. It was quite the ordeal having engineers figure out the best position and attaching it to the car frame. After it was done, I had a tether anchor for my middle seat! It was worth the trouble to me to have it done. Tethering to the third row wasn't practical for us bc it was really in the way.

I have wondered if I am the only person who has done this bc most people think I was nuts for doing all that to have an additional anchor installed. I keep my cars for a while so when I bought this in 2005 I knew it would be my car til at least 2015. Worth it to me to have it installed and be done with it.

Like I said, I am a paranoid mama! :)

I had a center tether anchor in too, but most people don't want to go through the trouble.

Yes, I had three big seats. I didn't have 3 Frontiers, I had 1 Frontier and 2 Regents (which are bigger than Frontiers).

Really, there's no reason to get the narrowest seats on the market. And Radians are not compatible ffing with seat belt installs in the outboard 2nd row seats in any case.

Buckling a Frontier in in booster mode in the center 2nd row is a bit of a challenge. Not because of space as much as because the buckle is on a rigid fixed stalk and doesn't have any flexibility to move side to side to give you room to maneuver your fingers. You have to line it up and slide the buckle down with your fingers on top. Surprisingly however, my DD could buckle the Frontier in booster mode in the center but could not buckle an Oobr or a Turbo Booster herself, even though those seats are pretty narrow. Boosters with curved sides worked way better in that seating position than ones with squared sides. The easiest booster to buckle in the center was that I tried was the Monterrey.
 

Steph230

New member
I'm not so worried about buckling with the seats so close. I know they'll be able to do it when we are out of the harness bc they will be much older. They could buckle themselves in their car seats before they were 2 with just a tighten and check from me. By the time they were 3 they could tighten it and be all set before I even got in my seat! Plus, by the time that comes, we might be moving these seats to the other grandmother's car and getting newer ones for our car yet again. Not necessarily the plan but possible bc when she has a car big enough for all 3 it makes more sense for us to get the newest ones and put older ones in the car they'll be in very seldom. We weren't even planning to move them out of the Boulevard til next year when they expire but this just is the best plan since one set of grandparents wanted seats anyway.

Oh I just measured my seat. It was a quick measure bc it was so cold but measuring across, the actual seat only measures about 56"? Weird bc I have room on either side of the boulevards at their widest points on the outer seats and they are supposedly 19". Also I remembered that the center seat is very slightly forward bc of the arm rest so that slight difference will help when putting 3 of any seat in. I'm going to measure again in the morning and make sure I'm measuring correctly.

Oh and while my youngest is smaller now (actually looks the same size as the twins bc of his build) he won't be for long. He is going to be bigger than the twins within a year or year and a half! So I like to do everything the same with all 3. They behave as triplets anyway. :)

I guess no matter what we get, I'll get it from somewhere I can return it to a store like target just in case. I love amazon and their price but sure would hate the return shipping on 3 frontiers!

Thanks again! I appreciate all the input!
 
F

Furffy

Guest
I just logged onto this website looking for this specific answer. I just registered to ask this question...

Could you provide me with the information as to how and where and how much it cost to add another anchor to my Nissan Armada...mine is a 2007. My local Nissan Dealership is not "on the ball" when it comes to tethering or the LATCH system. When I purchased my car, I contacted them to find out what the weight limit was on the LATCH system because I could not find it anywhere (owners manual or internet), and they were NO help. Never did get an answer, so I am going with 45 lbs. So if they are my only option to have an additonal anchor added to the frame, I am going to need some really good specifics. (Even if you can just tell me where you had it done or who I could contact to inform my local dealership as to the best way to go about this, I would be so grateful!)

I currently have two Frontiers ("1st" generation and "2nd" generation) and an Evenflo Triumph...but I am looking to replace the Triumph with the "new" Frontier 85...so all three Frontiers are all going to need to fit on my 2nd row. My kids are 5, 4 and 2....3rd row seating is not an option for us at the moment.

Good luck. I hope for your sake, and mine, that you can fit three across!
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Could you provide me with the information as to how and where and how much it cost to add another anchor to my Nissan Armada...mine is a 2007. My local Nissan Dealership is not "on the ball" when it comes to tethering or the LATCH system. When I purchased my car, I contacted them to find out what the weight limit was on the LATCH system because I could not find it anywhere (owners manual or internet), and they were NO help. Never did get an answer, so I am going with 45 lbs.

You cannot get tethers added to a 2007. What it came with is what it has.

Nissan doesn't have a set LATCH limit. You go with what your carseat says. In your case that's 40 pounds.

How heavy is your two year old? They'd be safer to stay rear facing for a while longer yet,and that wouldn't require a tether anchor. Is your seat a Triumph, or a Triumph Advance? I'd get the two year old a seat to rear face longer in.

You have three tether anchors. With a rear facing child and a five and four year old harnessed and tethered, by the time the two year old was forward facing and ready for a Frontier your oldest or both olders could be in boosters, which don't require tethers.

I think there are easier and safer ways to do this than to rig tethers, which aren't available for your vehicle.

Wendy
 

Steph230

New member
I know this is an old post but I just came across it again. If anyone needs information about how to get tethers installed, please let me know. I think your vehicle is a 2007 so I can't address that specific year but I was able to add one to my 2005 through the dealer. A lot of hassle and time but worth it for me! Now I face a new dilemma in car seats so I'm here to search and probably post soon!
 

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