Infant seat in the middle of SUV?

[camprunner]

I have a child who is not in a seat (I've done the test with her, she's fine in our car without one). A five and a half year old in a high back booster, and expecting a new baby next month.  We have a Hyundai Santa Fe.

It might not be the absolute safest set up but I'd like to put the infant seat in the center (access to third row if necessary, current youngest still needs a little help with seat belt; both older ones want to sit next to baby).  The thing is, I put the seat in there last weekend to see if it would fit (and it fits perfect) but I couldn't remove the seat with both feet planted on the ground outside the car.

Am I just going to have to put the seat in an outboard position? Anyone else put an infant seat in the middle of the SUV and tried to remove it? 

We don't leave the baby in the bucket a lot but it is helpful at times to leave him in there until we get in the house. He'll be one less we have to buckle up once we get to the car.

[DahliaRW]

I wouldn't put the seat in the middle.  The least protected child should go in the middle, so that would be the child without a seat.  The hbb and the infant seat should go outboard.  The exception would be if the middle position is lap belt only.  In that case you cannot put either of your odler 2 there.

[TheGirls]

I have a minivan, not an SUV, but I have infant seats in both the middle and outboard positions (twins) and know what you mean about reaching the center position. I can do it, barely, but I am quite tall.  A friend who regularly helps me out to the car can't reach the center spot at all.  Do you have running boards on your SUV?  You might be able to step up on that to hoist the baby to the center.  Or you can do what my friend does - set the carrier down on the seat closest to you, climb up into the car, then pick up the seat and put it on the base. 

However, it is a pain, and if I had only one child who needed help getting into their seats, I would put it outboard for convenience sake (plus that opens up the safest spot for a more-vulnerable forward-facer).   As it is, I have three (I also have a RF 2.5yo in the other outboard position) so it is easier to hoist the baby's seat  than the 36lb toddler. :-D

[camprunner]

Thanks for the responses.  My 5 year old doesn't need help getting in the car. She can get in and sit in her seat but it takes her forever to buckle and while we encourage it, sometimes we just don't have time.  My older two (ages 5 and 8) are also going to be more prone to irritate each other if they have to sit together for long periods of time (an hour trip each way is not out of the ordinary due to living in the middle of no where).  Also, as I said, we do have a third row seat and if we have a friend with us, it's nice to be able to access that seat without moving carseats and boosters around (hence not wanting both seats in the out board position.

I think when I permanently install the seat next weekend, I'm going to try a couple of ways to get the seat out of the middle and see if it will work. Otherwise, I guess it will go outboard.