Are there any 5-passenger vehicles that have 3 full sets of LATCH?

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
I don't know what to add except what is in the title....anyone know if a 5-passenger vehicle (crossover, sedan, hatchback, station wagon....) that has dedicated lower anchors in the center seat?


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Keeanh

Well-known member
How old of a vehicle are you looking for? It seemed to me that some manufacturers went all-out with the LATCH to begin with, putting 3 sets in cars. Then it seemed to dwindle a bit with more and more vehicles only having outboard.

Is this a deal-breaker for you? Because honestly, the vast majority of 3-acrosses require seatbelt installs regardless of what lower anchors are available. My uncle has a 2002 Buick something-or-other with 3 full sets of LATCH. But any time I've put 3 seats in it, I've used the seatbelts, or at least the outboard ones. The only time I used all LATCH was Radian-CCO-Radian.
 

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
It's not a deal-breaker at all. I am mostly interested in finding which cars could have a booster rider latched in the center. Since the oldest child is the least protected and all, it makes the most sense to put older booster riders in the middle....but you'd have to buckle the booster every time if you couldn't LATCH there.


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jwilliams

New member
Chrysler 300. Has weird head rests and panic-inducingly difficult top tether points, but lots of room.


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jwilliams

New member
I'm cheating and using a Bubblebum in the middle seat. It passes the "would you be OK having this thrown at your head" test and I don't feel bad about it not, ahem, *always* being buckled.


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Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
I'm cheating and using a Bubblebum in the middle seat. It passes the "would you be OK having this thrown at your head" test and I don't feel bad about it not, ahem, *always* being buckled.


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This was something I was actually just thinking about recently -- whether the Bubblebum would actually "count" as a projectile.


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kathysr98

Active member
The Ford Taurus has center LATCH. It's a sort of weird arrangement where you can either use the two outboard seats with LATCH or the center, but if you're going to use seatbelt installs on three across anyway, it works out nicely. It also has a pretty wide backseat, and I don't remember anything particularly annoying about the headrests or tether locations. It has been a year since I was in one, so I could be misremembering something.
 

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
The Ford Taurus has center LATCH. It's a sort of weird arrangement where you can either use the two outboard seats with LATCH or the center, but if you're going to use seatbelt installs on three across anyway, it works out nicely. It also has a pretty wide backseat, and I don't remember anything particularly annoying about the headrests or tether locations. It has been a year since I was in one, so I could be misremembering something.


So you borrow the outboard anchors for the center? Or does it have a dedicated set? Can you latch a seat in the middle without the latch belt overlapping with a seatbelt install on the sides?

Sorry, I know it's been a year since you have been in one, so you might not know...I will try to find more info, though. Thank you for a starting point!


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kathysr98

Active member
So you borrow the outboard anchors for the center? Or does it have a dedicated set? Can you latch a seat in the middle without the latch belt overlapping with a seatbelt install on the sides? Sorry, I know it's been a year since you have been in one, so you might not know...I will try to find more info, though. Thank you for a starting point! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In theory its borrowing for the center set, but they are the standard spacing, so no issues with incompatibility. It's an unusual setup because if you use LATCH for the two outboard seats the middle is unusable because they are so close to the middle. I don't remember any overlap issues with the belts. I was using a combination of FF and boosters when I drove that car, so I wasn't using LATCH except for one short period of time.
 

kathysr98

Active member
Here's a screen shot from the manual of a 2014 Taurus. It explains in the manual that the anchors are all 11" apart and that only the middle or the outboard anchors may be used at one time.
 

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squishles10

New member
I know this is an sort of old thread but I just leave the shoulder strap and bottom clip attached on one side when it isn't being used. It won't fly anywhere. I do it out of laziness but it's also a safety thing. Then I just have to thread the side across and click it.
 

Keeanh

Well-known member
You don't need centre LATCH for a booster. There's no harm in borrowing when it's just to restrain an unoccupied booster. And if you're doing 3-across, chances are pretty slim you'd be using outboard LATCH for car seats.
 

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
You don't need centre LATCH for a booster. There's no harm in borrowing when it's just to restrain an unoccupied booster. And if you're doing 3-across, chances are pretty slim you'd be using outboard LATCH for car seats.


But if you borrow the latch from outboard, doesn't that mean that your latch and seat belts will be overlapping? As in, you'd have the car seatbelts that are outboard overlapping with the latch belts of the booster in the center? Is that ok?


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Keeanh

Well-known member
But if you borrow the latch from outboard, doesn't that mean that your latch and seat belts will be overlapping? As in, you'd have the car seatbelts that are outboard overlapping with the latch belts of the booster in the center? Is that ok?


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Good point. I guess that's something you'd have to look into. I would think since the LATCH strap on a booster comes from the bottom of the seat, it would go harmlessly under the neighbouring seatbelt. But I don't know what an official answer would be.
 

featherhead

Well-known member
In some cars the latch is slightly offset, so the one anchor is on the other side of the buckle. In that case i would think it would work.
 

rin2809

Active member
I am pretty sure that Crown Victoria's have 3 full sets of LATCH as well, but they stopped being made recently. And since you are from MN like me, the rear wheel drive only may be a deal breaker for you like it is for us!
 

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