Rav 4--Is it only a 4 person vehicle??

M

Mom to a few

New member

• Oct 20, 2008

• #1

My MIL has a Toyota Rav 4, and she was wanting to take 3 of her grandchildren with her somewhere. I started looking at her backseat, and was surprised by the seatbelt arrangement! It has 3 seatbelt positions, but it looks like you can use EITHER the driver's side, OR center, but not both at the same time (Meaning that only two passengers could ride in the backseat at one time). I read her vehicle instruction manual, and I couldn't find an area where it specifically said anything about that. I'm just making an assumption from the position of the seatbelts.

Does anyone know for sure? Thanks !

 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador

• Oct 20, 2008

• #2

What year is it? The RAV4 has gone through some major changes recently. You can even get a 3rd row in the newer ones!

 

pastrygirl

New member

• Oct 20, 2008

• #3

My babysitter thought she had only two positions in the back seat of her Rav4... but then I showed her that the middle seat belt comes down from the ceiling. I think the middle belt's buckle was tucked away inside the bight, too.

 

M

Mom to a few

New member

• Oct 20, 2008

• #4

She bought her's new last summer, so I'm fairly certain its a 2007.

My MIL's has the center seatbelt that comes out of the ceiling too, but the center and driver's side positions overlap each other, so I'm thinking maybe you can only use two positions back there at a time.

I may have to take a picture of her back seat and post it...

 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member

• Oct 20, 2008

• #5

I couldn't find anything in the manual either. We briefly considered an '07 but after seeing the seatbelt set-up in the 2nd row and the lack of direction from Toyota considering it, we nixed it off the list.

I was very disappointed in Toyota for not addressing this issue in their manual. I would not be comfortable sitting two people next to each other in those overlapping positions and there is *no* way you could safely install seats next to each other in those two positions.

 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador

• Oct 20, 2008

• #6

Well, the source I used to use to look at owner's manuals seems not to be working anymore, so I couldn't find the '07 RAV4 manual. Likely didn't matter though as Jen said she didn't find any info in the manual.

I did find a review for the '08 written by a mom that made a comment about the weird centre seat belt here http://www.motherproof.com/car-reviews/new/2008-toyota-rav4/ She's got pics and if you click on page 3 of the pics and look at the very last one, it shows the rear seat belt. But, it looks like it's coming from the MIDDLE of the driver's side seat, that can't be right? I am unsure if she has it connected properly.

 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member

• Oct 20, 2008

• #7

Nope... that picture is correct. That's exactly how it buckles and exactly why I consider it a 4 passenger vehicle. :thumbsdown:

ETA: You can't totally see it in the photos, but the buckle stalks are fairly long as well. That buckle is probably right on the edge of the TB when done up.

 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador

• Oct 20, 2008

• #8

CDNTech said:

Nope... that picture is correct. That's exactly how it buckles and exactly why I consider it a 4 passenger vehicle. :thumbsdown:

ETA: You can't totally see it in the photos, but the buckle stalks are fairly long as well. That buckle is probably right on the edge of the TB when done up.

Click to expand...

Well that is just weird then! We considered a RAV4 several years ago but ixnayed it PDQ due to the rear door opening the wrong way. I curse Toyota for not wanting to spend the money to put it on the correct side for North America (I was told they sell a LOT more of the RAV's in countries where they drive on the other side of the road, so Toyota only did the minimal flips for NA, like the driver's side).

 

M

Mom to a few

New member

• Oct 20, 2008

• #9

CDNTech said:

Nope... that picture is correct. That's exactly how it buckles and exactly why I consider it a 4 passenger vehicle. :thumbsdown:

ETA: You can't totally see it in the photos, but the buckle stalks are fairly long as well. That buckle is probably right on the edge of the TB when done up.

Click to expand...

That's exactly how it is! But I wouldn't say the buckle stalks are long at all, at least not on my MIL's. The thing that's really crazy about that car is that if you sit in the center position, then you are sitting on top of a buckle. It's recessed, but still! Who wants to sit on THAT?!?!? Oh, and the center seatbelt position isn't in the middle of the backseat, but the headrest is ! So while you're sitting comfortably on top of that buckle, your head is kind of wedged between two headrests! Oh, and when I buckled myself in that position, the lap belt was too high on my belly, and the shoulder belt was way up on my neck....So I guess at 5'5", I don't pass the 5-step test

Ok, well, I guess I'll have to let MIL know that she can only transport 2 grandchildren--which is really inconvenient since 2 of her children each have 3 kids. She didn't realize the seating issue when she bought it. It's too bad Toyota didn't do a better job of telling her about the car she was considering--and that its not mentioned in the manual at all .

 

Last edited: Oct 20, 2008

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician

• Oct 20, 2008

• #10

Mom to a few said:

Ok, well, I guess I'll have to let MIL know that she can only transport 2 grandchildren--which is really inconvenient since 2 of her children each have 3 kids. She didn't realize the seating issue when she bought it. It's too bad Toyota didn't do a better job of telling her about the car she was considering--and that its not mentioned in the manual at all .

Click to expand...

Could she just switch car with one of her kids for the outing?

 

M

Mom to a few

New member

• Oct 21, 2008

• #11

safeinthecar said:

Could she just switch car with one of her kids for the outing?

Click to expand...

Well, the other day when she wanted to transport 3 grandchildren, 2 of them were from one family, and one was from the other, so it wasn't quite that simple. Normally though, we would do that.

It would be nice though if she had seats already in her car so that she could transport the kids in an emergency if she needed to--She already has 2 of the seats she would need (so she would just have to get one more HBB to do that). It's just frustrating to know that its not even an option.

But maybe that's why they called it a Rav4 instead of a Rav5!

 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador

• Oct 21, 2008

• #12

Mom to a few said:

But maybe that's why they called it a Rav4 instead of a Rav5!

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The silly thing is, it actually is marketed as a 5 seater with seating for 7 with the optional 3rd row. Any chance your MIL got the 3rd row option with hers? That would allow for additional room for kids.

 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob

Staff member

• Oct 21, 2008

• #13

My almost-step-mom has a Rav4 and I hate putting carseats in it. Even just putting 2 in, the forward-facing install was acceptable, fairly simple even, but I could not for the life of me get more than a barely acceptable rear-facing install with either an infant seat (no base) or a convertible.:thumbsdown: And I tried 3 different seats. The only thing I didn't try was the base for the infant seat, probably should have but was late already!

 

M

Mom to a few

New member

• Oct 21, 2008

• #14

TechnoGranola said:

The silly thing is, it actually is marketed as a 5 seater with seating for 7 with the optional 3rd row. Any chance your MIL got the 3rd row option with hers? That would allow for additional room for kids.

Click to expand...

No, she just has a storage compartment in the back.

Ketchupqueen--I've only installed a couple of seats in her vehicle FF (an EFTA and a Blvd), and haven't installed them RF. I would've guessed it would've been easy in that car though because the back seats are so flat. That middle position would probably be awkward because the base of the carseat would be half on the "middle" hump and half off of it.

I just don't know what they were thinking when they designed it the way they did--I think they should've just had 2 fully useful seats in the back, and left out that strange overlapping middle position. :thumbsdown:

 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob

Staff member

• Oct 21, 2008

• #15

I didn't even try the middle. The issue I had was that the belts just did not want to tighten enough. I used a locking clip in the end because it got it a LITTLE tighter, but it did not get it tight enough to not move. (And usually I am quite good with locking clips.) It moved the full allowable inch when I gave up and decided we had to go or I'd lose my appointment. But I was not happy and prayed the whole way there we would not be in a crash! For some reason it got plenty tight with the FF seats but it just didn't want to do it with the RF seats, perhaps because of being pulled through a slightly different position?

I also did not like the way the front seat belt fit ME.

 

Niea

New member

• Nov 8, 2008

• #16

What a weird center position! So, if you were to put 3 people in the backseat (no carseats, for the sake of this discussion), both the center and the driver's side people would be sitting on each other's belts? If you thought the recessed buckle was bad, imagine trying to sit on it while it's in use! That can't be safe AT ALL. Seriously, I wonder what they were thinking.

Now, I have an '07 CR-V, which is a direct competitor with this RAV4. Honda also made the center belt come from the ceiling, but the configuration is so much better! No crossing over, nothing. All 3 positions can be safely used at the same time, though you have to be incredibly skinny to fit in the center.