Rear facing convertible car seat in a Leaf

[cossie1600]

For Leaf owners who have young kids and need car seats for them, you might want to take the car to the store and test fit them in the car. With some of the more fancy unit, your front seat will have to go up so much that the seat becomes unusable. So unless you want to stick your wife behind your seat in the back, you might want to get a smaller seat....

 

[CMYK4Life]

I hear ya! Always a good choice to bring your car when choosing a car seat.

When our little guy was an infant we put the rear facing car seat in the middle of the back seat.

This gave the rear facing car seat handle some more room; the arc of the handle peaked at the gap between the two front seats. This gave us a few more inches in the front seats. It makes for a longer reach to get the car seat/child in the car... but the legroom and useable passenger seat is nice. We had the Chico brand that clipped into a base inside the car and also clipped into a stroller.

 

[Boourns]

^ You can do that with a Leaf (put the seat in the middle)? My wife and I don't have kids yet, so I know absolutely nothing about how car seats work.

 

[CMYK4Life]

^ You can do that with a Leaf (put the seat in the middle)? My wife and I don't have kids yet, so I know absolutely nothing about how car seats work.

Yes, you can. We did it with the Chicco Key Fit 30. The Leaf has several anchor points back there. The anchor straps on the Chicco easily reach when placed in the middle. Its a bit of a stretch to load the seat/child when mounted in the middle but it gives you a little more room up front.

By the time we got the Leaf our son was only 3 months away from outgrowing the rear facing seat for a forward facing seat. The forward facing seat is no problem... except recently his legs grew long enough where he now kicks the back of the passenger seat and thinks its funny..

 

[rslatkin]

My 2012 Leaf Owner's Manual says that the LATCH anchors are only for the left and right locations and not the middle. The seat belt can be used for the middle position.

 

[renedarling101]

It is always better to go for a right option when it comes to choosing a car seat. Even I used to put my baby in the rear facing car seat just over the middle portion of the back seat. This really helped in reaping a couple of benefits unlike the way you have named here. Therefore we also got the same space over the front seats along with the other options. If you too have similar options at your end, you can also enjoy a couple of benefits unlike the ones we experience at our end. You can use the seat belt in the middle section provided things are right at your end.
Try http://www.carseatvs.com/dofind" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can also visit the official sites of the car seats mentioned here for more details.
Britax PARKWAY SG
http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/parkway-sg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Britax PARKWAY SGL 2013
http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/parkway-sgl-2013" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Britax FRONTIER 90
http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/frontier-90" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Britax PINNACLE 90
http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/pinnacle-90" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

When moving up to a booster I suggest looking into a "bubble bum". We put our the kids in the leaf every week (11, 9, 5) and it saves about 4 inches of hip room for the older kids compared to the hard plastic choices.

 

[giggleooza]

The Safety First Alpha Omega Elite 3 in 1 is one I have been using and love. It's top rated on this guys site http://www.squidoo.com/top-convertible-car-seat" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . My kids haven't complained about it yet; great convertible car seat.