3 across Chrysler Town & Country 2014. Help?

Hey all! I posted here several years ago when my kids were little, but I can't remember my log in.

I have four kids
DS 11 50lbs Klek backless booster
DD 9 50lbs Klek backless booster
DD 7 (she's TEENY, wears 5t clothes MAYBE 35lbs) Diono Radian
DS 5 average size Diono Radian

I need to get three across in the back seat. When I bought this van I was dumb and didn't realize seats would install differently in it than my ancient Grand Caravan... anyway, we are a family of 7 - three adults, and currently have the boosters in the middle captains chairs and the radians in the back. No room for the third adult.

I'm not attached to keeping the klek boosters. I'd prefer to keep the radians, the two little kids still need to be in 5pt. Whatever we use they need to be comfortable for 1+ hours in the car several times a week.

As far as I know I can't use a booster in the middle seat in the back because the seat belt doesn't appear to lock... and I've also heard I can't use boosters outboard in the back... so really, I have NO idea what to do here, everything I read gives me a different answer, and I'm totally at a loss here.

I have never regretted buying a car so much in my life LOL I'd really appreciate any help making this car work for us.

Hi and welcome back!

You're right that it's tricky, but it looks like you've gotten some information that's not quite accurate. The outboard seats really only work for certain high back boosters and a handful of rear facing seats. There are no tether anchors, so you should avoid using forward facing harnessed seats there.

So the good news is that you can make it work. The bad news is that it's going to require 3 new seats. The good news is that the seats that work back there are cheap.

Evenflo Amp Big Kid is the high back booster that works best outboard in that 3rd row. I would start with a pair of those.

Then the question becomes which kids go in those boosters, and who goes in the middle. It sounds like you really want to keep the 7 year old harnessed. If so, that means you need a harnessed seat to fit between the boosters that still leaves room to buckle the boosters. An Evenflo Sureride works well for this. It sits up high on a very narrow base, out of the way of the seat belt buckles. Don't forget to tether the Sureride if you go this way (and the Radian that will be in a captain's chair, too.)

The other option, if your 7 year old is developing normally and is just small is to put her in one of those boosters (they're rated down to 30 pounds, assuming you're in the US, and people around here are very comfortable with 7 year olds over 30 pounds in boosters) and get a BubbleBum to go between them.