Can I get this many carseats in a Minivan?

S

shannonv

Guest
I am starting a dayhome, and as such we are in the search for a Minivan, we have testdrove a 09 Pontiac Montana, and liked it, except for the situation in the back seat, as far as we could tell, you can only tether on seat back there. Does anyone know if this is the case?

What about the 09 Caravan?

I have my 2 kids in Marathons (2.5 34 lbs FF) and (9 months RF 19 lbs). They would be in the 2nd row.

I would then have a 1 year old, RF in an Alpha Omega in the 3rd row.

I am also taking in 1 or 2 more kids 2+, so good cahne I will need to get at least one more seat tethered in the 3rd row!

HElp, what vehicle will work??
 
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christineka

New member
Sienna:)

I'm fitting 6 seats in mine. Not just any combo will work in the back, but I've got two thin seats that will work. There are 5 tether anchors in the van.
 

mum2two

Active member
I have to say that I don't like the idea of the RF child in the 3rd row...first you'll have to put child in through the back, but I think it would be better for the child to not be looking right at the back window but rather other faces and part of me just hates the idea of them so close to the rear of the vehicle.

Our Mercurey/Ford minivan only has one tether in the 3rd row (the center).
 

christineka

New member
I've had and still have rfing kids in the third row. In my old van it was no big deal to get in and buckle. In the sienna, it just isn't very easy to put a little one in and buckle over the back bench. I have my older kids in there. They go through the side door to the back, get in their seats. The 4 year old can buckle her chest clip. 7 year old can sometimes get the bottom. I can also lean over to the back from the side to buckle upside down.

I could have put my newborn in the back, but that would be rather difficult, so I have chosen to buy a new car seat (radian) instead.
 

mommy2zander+baby

Senior Community Member
I personally like my children in the center of each seat of the van. So one in each row. That would leave you the other middle row spot for the rear-facing one year old. You may have to purchase some seats for the 3rd row to get them to fit. Possibly using the marathons both in 2nd row & new seats in 3rd row.

Otherwise you could leave your kids in the 2nd row, but again are going to need to purchase some narrow seats! :D

I was able to fit 3 combination graco seats in the 3rd row of my 02 caravan when I did childcare (this was years ago, don't know if they even make this seat anymore), but I can't see being able to fit even one marathon or alpha omega & two other seats. (These are both very wide seats & the 3rd row of the caravan is not real wide) A radian in the center for your child or a radian rfing may work with two combination seats (like dorel harness/booster) for the other two kids if they are ff & less then 40 pounds. You may just need to try the seats in the van.

There is a thread with successful 3 across setups here:
http://car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=33226&highlight=successful

Edited to add: the thread shows 3 seats in the third row with one being a marathon, two being radians in the caravan & other combos with the marathon in the honda & toyota vans. So you will be able to fit 5 seats for sure with a few choices depending on the van you choose. If you can have any van you want, I'd look at the honda & toyota! The toyota has a 8 seat option with a very wide 2nd row as others mentioned above. Seems like I heard somewhere that there was something up with the pontiac montana vans, but I don't know if that was only older models & can't remember the details...
 

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