First Years True Fit in Honda CRV

[Unregistered]

I have a 2011 Honda CR-V and and am leaning toward purchasing a First Years True Fit Recline seat in the next couple of days. Does anyone have experience with this seat in this particular car? My husband and I are both tall so we don't want to have to push the passenger seats up too far.

Also, within the next two years we plan to have a second child and will need to fit both the convertible carseat (probably forward facing at that point) and our Graco Snugride 22 in the back at the same time. I'd prefer to have the Graco in the middle seat again when we have another infant. Is this possible? We do have center seat LATCH.

If you wouldn't recommend the True Fit in the CR-V, I would appreciate other suggestions. Our baby is pretty long so something that can work long-term with a taller baby would be best.

Thanks!

 

[Phineasmama]

Yes it will work I had a TF recline behind the drivers seat in my CRV no prob. I have a 2009. It is wide though, but because of the way the seats are set up I think you might be able to do the infant seat in the center latch. You might have to get a narrower infant seat if you use the true fit, not 100% sure because I never had that exact set up. The Diono radian will also work if you get the angle adjuster block. Those are probably the two tallest seats that would work well. Keep in mind the true fit only rear faces to 35 lbs.

 

[Stelvis]

I had one behind the passenger in an RDX, which is the same thing, and yes, it will work! I doubt you could fit any infant seat in the position next to it though. It's really wide.

ETA: Does the CRV now have 3 full LATCH positions? In mine there were 5 anchors so you could use center, or the outside positions, but not both at the same time.

 

[Unregistered]

That's great, thank you! My daughter is long but lean, so she'll definitely be 2+ before she hits 35 pounds.

Stelvis, I think you're right actually about the LATCH positions. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[Phineasmama]

I had one behind the passenger in an RDX, which is the same thing, and yes, it will work! I doubt you could fit any infant seat in the position next to it though. It's really wide.

ETA: Does the CRV now have 3 full LATCH positions? In mine there were 5 anchors so you could use center, or the outside positions, but not both at the same time.

Yeah, in the CRV though if they put it behind the driver seat they could latch it in and also have an infant seat latched in the center. The center position skews so far over to the passenger side that I think it's possible.

There's no way you're getting anything in the passenger and center at the same time though.

ETA: You can use the center and driver at the same time, but not center and passenger at the same time. Center has one latch hook of its own and borrows one from the passenger side

 

[Stelvis]

Yeah, in the CRV though if they put it behind the driver seat they could latch it in and also have an infant seat latched in the center. The center position skews so far over to the passenger side that I think it's possible.

There's no way you're getting anything in the passenger and center at the same time though.

ETA: You can use the center and driver at the same time, but not center and passenger at the same time. Center has one latch hook of its own and borrows one from the passenger side

See but if I remember from my manual correctly, while that looked possible from the setup, it wasn't permitted. Mine was an'07. It's possible I'm misremembering, but something about that sticks in my mind.

 

[Phineasmama]

Does it say it's not permitted specifically? I just don't see why it wouldn't be allowed since the middle latch is technically part of the passenger side latch position. The driver's side latch should be its own separate component.

 

[Stelvis]

Does it say it's not permitted specifically? I just don't see why it wouldn't be allowed since the middle latch is technically part of the passenger side latch position. The driver's side latch should be its own separate component.

IIRC, it said not to use center and drivers side LATCH at the same time. Not sure why but it said that. Don't have it anymore so I can't check it now.

 

[Phineasmama]

Ugh. I really wish they would be more clear about these things! I only have my middle seat installed with latch right now but I have used that set up before. Thankfully the outboard seat belts are pretty easy for install it's just the middle seat belt that is horrible.

 

[Stelvis]

Ugh. I really wish they would be more clear about these things! I only have my middle seat installed with latch right now but I have used that set up before. Thankfully the outboard seat belts are pretty easy for install it's just the middle seat belt that is horrible.

Could you check your car manual? I'm curious now.

 

[Phineasmama]

The manuals are all available online in PDF form you just have to google it. I find the wording very unclear but it does kind of sound like you should use middle alone or the two outboard sets

 

[Stelvis]

Okay, so it says:

Installing a Child Seat with LATCH
Your vehicle is equipped with LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) at the rear seats to secure a child seat in any seating position: one in each outer seating position, or one in the center

So to me the OR part of that means you can only use the center by itself or each outboard one at the same time. I bet it has to do with how the 5th one is attached to the others and how much load it can take.

 

[Unregistered]

The Tru Fit will fit rear facing easily with the top headrest off, but you may not have much room once you have the headrest on, when baby gets taller. If you have a long baby, this may be earlier than you think. We had this seat rear-facing in a 2006 Civic without the headrest on and it was ok, but I don't think it would have fit rear facing with the headrest. We also found it hard to pull the harness adjuster in the rear facing position since it was pretty tight up against the seat. We now have the seat forward facing in a 2010 CRV and it fits fine. However, there are 2 things I really don't like about the seat:

1) The straps twist.
2) The straps are actually one continuous strap which moves freely under the seat, so when you pull on the harness tightener, the straps do not tighten evenly on both sides, which is really annoying and, to me, doesn't seem very safe. We bought our seat in 2009, so maybe they have changed this since then, but I would check before buying it.

I would not buy the seat again simply because of the straps. I like everything else about it.

 

[Phineasmama]

Like I said, I had a true fit recline installed behind the driver for a 2 year old, with the head rest on, and it was just fine.