Question re: 3 across in 2004 Prius

[twin momma]

My mother just bought a used 2004 Prius. We want to set her up with three boosters for our twins, who turn 6 next month, and our 4 year old. I believe that we can physically fit 3 of those bubble gum boosters in there. However, I noticed that the center and driver side belts overlap a little bit. Is it okay to install three boosters in there? I looked in the manual and it did not address any three across installations. I did find a thread on here where people mentioned fitting three across in their 2004 Prius but that thread didn't mention the belt overlap.

I suppose she could also put one child in the front seat, with the seat all the way back. She is VERY VERY reluctant to put a child in the front, though. One of the boys is about 4'2" tall. He could go in the front in a booster if a rear installation is unsafe.

 

[oakster]

It's been a while since I've been in a 2004 Prius (ours is the old Gen1 style, and then we often drive a newer carshare one that is Gen3--we have family with Gen2 cars that I've put our seats in, though) but I've never found the belts overlapping on any of them--it's possible that the Gen2 backseat is different for some reason but I can't imagine that it would be. We have definitely installed a convertible in the center with two adults buckled in on either side with no issues in all of these cars, so that makes me think three narrow boosters should work too...? The center and driver's side buckles do come out at the same place, so is it possible they got reversed in her car and just appear to overlap? Fairly certain that you should be able to have three separate belts buckled in with no overlap. (It is tight to fit a car seat with two adults, though, and I often twist the buckle for the car seat so that the passenger doesn't inadvertently unbuckle it--it could be a little tough to buckle in for the kids sharing that buckle point.) I might also be misunderstanding what you mean by overlapping belts, too. (I'm thinking something a la the RAV4, which the Prius does not have, but I also haven't installed a booster before so possible there's something different there?) Good luck!

 

[creideamh]

I have 2 Gen2 Priuses(?) and the belts don't overlap. I'd fold the seats down and try and figure out why they appear that way- one stalk may have simply gotten tangled or something.

 

[twin momma]

I double checked the backseat. At the bottom stalks, the middle seat belt overlaps both the passenger side and driver side seat belts. If you are facing the back seat, the seatbelt stalks are in this order:

passenger-side belt stalk, middle belt stalk, passenger-side buckle stalk, driver side buckle stalk, middle buckle stalk, driver side belt stalk.

Does that make sense?

While we can likely fit three narrow boosters back there, is it safe to do so with the overlaps?

 

[creideamh]

Does it look like this?

http://static.cargurus.com/images/s...a_prius_liftback-pic-5389850159101741498.jpeg

The middle seatbelt shouldn't interfere with the passenger side stalk because it'll be slid behind. The middle stalk is webbed, mine is actually on the opposite side than shown in the picture so maybe you can fold down the backseat and slide it over.

Boosters will not be fun in this car. The backseat is quite narrow, especially with the contours and the humped and very narrow middle seat. The Bubblebums will fit, it'll just be annoying to get the red clips attached on all of them (your kids are probably a bit too young to be able to do it themselves.) The kid in the middle will feel like falling over every time the car turns because of the hump. But it can be done if needed!

 

[twin momma]

Yes!

I think that with 3 Bubblegum seats, or two Harmony boosters and a Bubble gum we can do it.

It's only for emergency/unplanned grandma pickups; she can keep the Bubblegum seats in the trunk.

THANK YOU!!