Carseats in a Ford Fiesta (I know, I know)

Ford is reputable for having pretty good backseats (our 2004 Ford Taurus could easily fit 3 across no matter the carseat). But, naturally, the Fiesta 2012 (our new car) is a small one. Our old car was reaching it's end of days, and the Fiesta was in our price range.

I have 3 "nieces and nephews" who visit regularly. We used to use their carseats in our car, but this is going to be a challenge with the new car. I can force and squeeze their 3 carseats back there, but I don't feel like they were installed well (and obviously it would be a pain to buckle the highback booster).

We're considering buying a carseat or two to use with them when they visit. The Combi and Radian look great, but they're too expensive for an occasional use carseat and we really can't afford them. Any suggestions for an inexpensive yet narrower seat that would fit and puzzle well with a Graco Turbobooster and a Graco Safeseat? I was considering the Safety 1st Onside Air (it's only 16.5 inches wide, according to online dimensions). We may get two once the baby outgrows her infant seat.

This may be an impossible request as the Fiesta is not a typical family car and people may not have had experience with it. But I'm hoping we can figure out something.

TIA!

We had a Fiesta hatchback for 2 days (until we kicked up a mother of a fuss) when DH's brand new Ford truck tranny blew.

I didn't try a 3 across, but I can tell you that it was a VERY VERY tight fit for a FFg RN and a PW. Now, DH and I are tall and the front seats were far back, but I would say that it is a pretty carseat-unfriendly car. That was one of the reasons we kicked up a fuss at the dealership giving us that car while the truck was out for 3 weeks (waiting for a part that every other 2011 F-150 built between April and June 2011 also needed). Dealership manager didn't even blink when he heard that we were putting 2 kids in carseats in there, told DH to come and pick up a different truck that same day.

If you can fit a RN in with a Safeseat and a TB, I wanna see pics. Also, any RFg seat is gonna eat up a lot of room in that particular vehicle.

You'll be able to fit seats in better with seatbelt installs, not LATCH. Also, does it even have center LATCH? I don't recall seeing 3 sets of LATCH. I also don't recall the center belt -- is it from the ceiling? The ceiling belts can be a PITA with infant seats.

The sightlines are horrible in that vehicle (IMO), so I'd put the booster (tallest child) behind the driver, RFg center (b/c I don't think it will fit with any room for either driver or passenger), and FFg harnessed seat passenger outboard.

GL!

How old is the booster rider? If the parents were comfortable with a backless booster for these occasional rides that would free up a lot of space that you might be able to skew the infant seat over to that side enough that you could fit the other child's harnessed seat.

Welcome to Car-Seat.Org, and thanks for coming to us with your question.

I haven't tried three car seats in the Fiesta, but our summer sitter this year had a 2011 Fiesta. I was able to install a rear-facing Coccoro and a forward-facing Radian (two of the narrowest seats on the market) with DS in the seatbelt in the center. He would have been in a booster if I could have gotten one to fit, but I couldn't (and we have older boosters that are very narrow) and he fit passably in the seatbelt alone. I couldn't get a high-back or a backless to fit.

I don't see how you could possibly get another seat to fit with a Smart Seat and a Turbobooster. How old is the boostered kid? You might have better luck with three harnessed seats, since you won't have to worry about leaving room to buckle. We did this in our Focus when DD2 was born.

I also don't recall the center belt -- is it from the ceiling? The ceiling belts can be a PITA with infant seats.

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The belt comes from the top of the vehicle seat, not from the ceiling.

You'll be able to fit seats in better with seatbelt installs, not LATCH. Also, does it even have center LATCH? I don't recall seeing 3 sets of LATCH.

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There are two sets of lower anchors and three tether anchors. Ford does allow center LATCH install if the child restraint manufacture permits "borrowing" of anchors. However, I believe that using LATCH in the center will interfere with the outboard seatbelts.

How old are the kids? How tall and heavy? Are they rear facing or forward facing? For the booster rider, if the parents are comfortable with a backless booster (and the child is large enough and there are lap-shoulder belts and headrests in all seating locations) I would highly recommend getting a bubble bum. It's not the cheapest booster on the market ($40) but it's very narrow and basically only takes up as much room as the kid does.

If one or both of the harnessed kids are forward facing I've heard that the maestro is a narrower seat than most other FF harness seats. Not sure about narrow convertible seats if you need rear facing other than the radian, but that's an expensive seat for your purposes, so I'm hoping other people have great suggestions for that.

OP here. Thanks for the advice so far.

The Fiesta has LATCH in both outboard positions, but I don't believe they have it in the center. It has top tethers in all 3 positions and 3 point seatbelts. I'm not sure how the 2011 Fiesta differs from the 2012 (if at all).

The booster rider is only 4.5. He's harnessed in his regular carseat, and the booster is for occasional use. The Turbobooster does have a seatbelt adjustment strap that can be used while using it as a backless booster but I personally think he may be too young for that (maybe I'm wrong and it doesn't make much of a difference?) The booster does fit him well/correctly but he's not really ready for it full time yet.

The other 2 kids are 2.75 (forward facing) and 10 months (Safeseat).

If we can find inexpensive yet narrow carseats that would fit all 3 kids that would be an option. However, I believe the Combi and Onside Air only go to 40 pounds. One option would be to dump the Safeseat and use a rearfacing smaller convertible for the 10 month old, if that would work better.

Yesterday we used seatbelts. First I tried Turbobooster behind the driver, and Safeseat in the middle. That was fine (tough to buckle the Turbobooster, but could manage in a pinch). It looked as if there was room behind the passenger for a small passenger or potentially a small carseat. I did try putting their spare convertible carseat there, but the carseat was huge so it was too big.

I then tried the booster in the middle, and infant seat behind the driver (the driver seat is up pretty far - I'm short). That was ok, but the Turbobooster seemed a little "off" because the middle seat is fairly narrow. If I wiggled the carseats around enough I could squeeze the 4.5 year old's convertible (would adjust harness for his little brother) in there, but it was not a very good installation so I wouldn't want to drive around with it there.

I then moved up the passenger seat and switched the two outboard seats, because then we could take out the infant seat in order to buckle the booster then reinstall it with the seatbelt fairly easily. That also would have been ok (assuming we could safely get a seat in the other side), but again the booster seemed a little off being in the middle. I'm not sure if that's a big deal or not.

The 2.5 year old is usually in a Britax Roundabout (older model). I didn't even try that seat, I assumed it would be too big. I also did not try the Safeseat with the base, which may have lifted it up a little higher and kept it from interfering with another seat (but also would have made it a little wider).

I can't help but feel if we had the right carseats, we could make do. It obviously isn't ideal for a full time family car, but for our weekly/monthly "dates" it would be alright if I could safely make it work.

If we owned the carseats I could try to get them inspected before putting the kids in the car. However that's not always feasible because the inspections seem to be difficult to schedule around the times I have the kids. I wouldn't keep the carseats in there full time.

I should have taken pictures yesterday, then I would have been able to show examples. I'm not sure what "RN" and "PW" stands for. I figured out FFg and RFg

You could use the 2 yo's regular seat outboard on one side, the baby's seat outboard on the other side and buy a ride safe travel vest for the 4 yo. It is $120 so not cheap exactly but probably about the same as buying 3 new inexpensive seats. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Traffic-Systems-GD10101GWB-Travel/dp/B0034CKJZC/ref=sr_1_3?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1323057609&sr=1-3"]Here [/ame]is a link. Since you have the top tether in the center position the level of protection from the rstv would be comparable to a harnessed seat rather than the booster.

Syllieann said:

You could use the 2 yo's regular seat outboard on one side, the baby's seat outboard on the other side and buy a ride safe travel vest for the 4 yo. It is $120 so not cheap exactly but probably about the same as buying 3 new inexpensive seats. Here is a link. Since you have the top tether in the center position the level of protection from the rstv would be comparable to a harnessed seat rather than the booster.

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I have never heard of those. That looks like it could work, but it is pricey. I'm assuming like carseats it can't be bought used.

I got a Safety 1st Onside Air on sale for less then $50 with store pickup from Sears (should be picking it up Wednesday). I'll test that out next to the booster and see how it looks and go from there.

I realized I never came back and updated (OP here).

We got a Graco Turbobooster and two Safety 1st Onside Airs in the backseat (one forward facing, one rearfacing). Not checked by a tech, but the convertibles were both tight.

Turbobooster can fit behind the passenger or driver. Rearfacing Safety 1st convertible behind the passenger or driver (installed with seatbelt), and forward facing convertible in the middle (LATCH, borrowing outer anchors which according to the manual is ok).

We are considering getting them checked, just to verify that I can do them correctly. The carseats obviously touch and the armrest on the Turbobooster tucks under the Onside Air a little, but they aren't installed on top of each other so I think they're ok. The Turbobooster is a pain to buckle, but if needed we scoot it out, buckle, then push it back and make sure the seatbelt is tight and not twisted.

I have pics, if it will let me upload them. I hope its ok that I bumped this.

Pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76505709@N08/7008917035/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76505709@N08/6862799538/in/photostream