Defrost
Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
Hi all,
We just bought a 2007 Mazda5 this weekend. Overall, I'm quite pleased with it. My requirements were better gas mileage (we bought it out of state and drove it 1900 miles since Saturday; it averaged 28 mpg, mostly highway miles), seats at least 6, and start at under $20K. A difficult combination!
Here's the problem that came up today (and it's also a reminder to ALWAYS test-drive the car with ALL the kids in every seating position you could possibly use!!!) The shoulder part of the belts in the two rear seats (it has three rows of seats, with two seats in each row) are so far forward of the seat that there is a good 2-3 inches between the belt and the chest/shoulder. This is true even on my 5' tall 12 year old, who otherwise fits very well in the seat, and even with boosters (for the 9 & 11 year olds.) (I'll post pictures later on in case someone else encounters this.)
While I have a solution for now (I put the back/headrest back on my 9-year-old's Turbobooster and put my daughter's Husky in that row), I am very frustrated about this. It really limits our seating arrangements, not to mention my view out the back window, and considering the fact that others who buy this vehicle are going to be using those seats almost exclusively for children, it's not safe enough. I can't imagine what the head excursion must be.
I also found a nasty problem with child seat installation instructions in the vehicle manual. At one point it very clearly describes and illustrates how to install top-tethers under the headrest in the middle-row seats, but OVER the headrest in the third row seats. A few pages later, it says in a "warning" box to never ever install a top-tether over the headrest. (It wasn't an issue with the Husky because the tether points on the seat are so far apart.) There are also some really poorly-worded phrases throughout the installation instructions. I was really, really unimpressed!
Again, overall I'm pleased with this vehicle. Both of my daughter's seats (Husky and Marathon) installed beautifully, and all four of the rear seating positions have tether-points. I just wish car manufacturers would realize that over half the people who use their products are under 5 feet tall!!
ETA: This thread has grown to include a lot of reviews and pictures of the Mazda 5! There are a lot of posts with pictures of a pretty wide variety of carseats in the 5, plus a lot of interior pictures, and comments about various issues and features. So be sure to check out all the posts, and feel free to post a question of your own if you have one! :thumbsup:
We just bought a 2007 Mazda5 this weekend. Overall, I'm quite pleased with it. My requirements were better gas mileage (we bought it out of state and drove it 1900 miles since Saturday; it averaged 28 mpg, mostly highway miles), seats at least 6, and start at under $20K. A difficult combination!
Here's the problem that came up today (and it's also a reminder to ALWAYS test-drive the car with ALL the kids in every seating position you could possibly use!!!) The shoulder part of the belts in the two rear seats (it has three rows of seats, with two seats in each row) are so far forward of the seat that there is a good 2-3 inches between the belt and the chest/shoulder. This is true even on my 5' tall 12 year old, who otherwise fits very well in the seat, and even with boosters (for the 9 & 11 year olds.) (I'll post pictures later on in case someone else encounters this.)
While I have a solution for now (I put the back/headrest back on my 9-year-old's Turbobooster and put my daughter's Husky in that row), I am very frustrated about this. It really limits our seating arrangements, not to mention my view out the back window, and considering the fact that others who buy this vehicle are going to be using those seats almost exclusively for children, it's not safe enough. I can't imagine what the head excursion must be.
I also found a nasty problem with child seat installation instructions in the vehicle manual. At one point it very clearly describes and illustrates how to install top-tethers under the headrest in the middle-row seats, but OVER the headrest in the third row seats. A few pages later, it says in a "warning" box to never ever install a top-tether over the headrest. (It wasn't an issue with the Husky because the tether points on the seat are so far apart.) There are also some really poorly-worded phrases throughout the installation instructions. I was really, really unimpressed!
Again, overall I'm pleased with this vehicle. Both of my daughter's seats (Husky and Marathon) installed beautifully, and all four of the rear seating positions have tether-points. I just wish car manufacturers would realize that over half the people who use their products are under 5 feet tall!!
ETA: This thread has grown to include a lot of reviews and pictures of the Mazda 5! There are a lot of posts with pictures of a pretty wide variety of carseats in the 5, plus a lot of interior pictures, and comments about various issues and features. So be sure to check out all the posts, and feel free to post a question of your own if you have one! :thumbsup:
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