toyota siena

I drive a toyota siena with bench seats. I have 3 children in car seats. Where should I put them? Which seats are safest, the middle or rear benches?

What are the weight and ages of your children and what kind of child seats are you usiing?

Dana is 5-1/2, 38#, 43". John is 4, 29#, 36-1/2". Will is 4, 28#, 37 1/4". The are in 5-pt. harness seats right now but I'm researching car seats because we plan to purchase new ones soon, probably Britax marathons and a Britax Bodyguard.

Is it the new Sienna, with two benches with three seats each, or is it the older model with 2 seats in the middle bench, and three in the back?

Either way, it's quite a safe car, and using seats properly will add to the safety, and it's ok to take convenience factors into it (can any of your kids NOT sit next to each other peacefully? Do you need to be able to reach one to hand things back to them? Who needs the most help buckling their seat?...)

I suppose my thought would be to put the eldest in the third row in the Bodyguard...but some younger kids have trouble buckling themselves into that one, especially at first, and you may want to put a Wizard in the third row seat that is easiest for you to reach (it's easier to lean back to help with a harnessed seat than a booster, IMO).

Oh, one thing to consider doing, since your 4 yo's are not too big for it, is putting one or both of them rearfacing in the Wizard...My 4 yo dd fit in her marathon rearfacing till she was 33.9 pounds and 41 inches, and she LOVED riding that way....it made for a fun change of pace and view out the window..but made it a little harder to get through to the back seat, lol.