Does anyone drive a Corolla and have 3 carseats in the back?

[3boobykins]

We are expecting #3 in a couple of months and can't afford a new car yet. We're saving up for an older Suburban, but won't be able to buy it before the baby arrives. I know there's another thread on this topic, but I'm wondering about a Toyota Corolla specifically. It's a 97, if that makes any difference. With the car seats we have currently, I just don't see how putting another one in would be remotely possible. DD is an a Cosco Touriva,which seems pretty narrow; she's still rearfacing. She's 17 months and about 21-22 lbs, and I don't want to turn her around yet unless there's no way to get 3 seats in without two of them being forward facing. DS is in a front-facing seat--can't remember which one. He's 4 and only 28 lbs, but I guess he could be in a high-back booster with the 5 pt. harness, and maybe dd could too. Are they the narrowest seats? What is the narrowest infant seat? I'd prefer to start the baby in an infant seat rather than a convertable. The shoulder straps on convertables always seem too high for newborns.

[Mavournin]

I have a 97 Corolla too, and I simply can't imagine fitting another carseat in the back. We recently had to move the baby (almost 7 months) into a convertable carseat as he outgrew the infant one (sniff sniff) and it's much bigger than I realized. I actually had to take the headrest off the passenger seat in order to be able to fit into the car! (I'm quite tall and if I had left the headrest, the baby's seat would've pushed mine so far forward that my knees would be in the dashboard!)

I don't have much advice. I feel your pain though - I'm desperate for a new car and it's simply not possible right now.

[3boobykins]

Darn! Well, maybe someone else will know of some really narrow carseats that we aren't aware of. I've thought of going to BabiesRUS and trying out their floor models in the car to see if there's any combination that might work. I plan to avoid taking all 3 grocery shopping and on errands as much as possible, anyway. DS goes to a playgroup twice a week without me, and I plan to use those 3.5 hrs. to go out with the baby and DD and get stuff done. DH will have to drop off ds first, or we'll walk to his playgroup (10 min. walk) if the weather is good, and then walk home and put the younger two in the car and do errands--kind of a pain, but that's just the way it is. It just sucks that I won't be able to take all three anywhere until we can afford a larger vehicle. The only other solution would be to have the front passenger's seat airbag disabled and put ds there in his seat, but that doesn't seem safe, either.

Mavounin, I hope we can both afford something larger soon!

[christinelin]

I do!

I have three seats in a '99 Corolla. I have a Britax Marathon facing forward for my DD (4), a Britax Roundabout facing rear for DS (14 months) and a Cosco Touriva facing forward for the 3 year old we carpool with to preschool. The Britax seats sort of jigsaw together. I specifically got the Cosco seat because it is supposed to be the narrowest one on the market.

To be totally honest, I am guessing that the Cosco seat isn't installed 100 percent correctly. When I close the car door it sometimes touches the carseat, which probably shouldn't happen. But...they are in tight. They wouldn't move in a crash.

I also looked into getting our front passenger airbag turned off and putting one of the carseats in front. Obviously having all three in back is a safer option, but you can put one in front legally if the airbag is switched off.

Christine

[moondiapers]

You could fit 2 Tourivas (one in the middle rear facing) and probably one of those narrow high back boosters for you 4yo. YOur middle child will be WAY too young for a booster though.


-Heather

[3boobykins]

Meaning a Touriva for the new baby and dd, right? I just wonder about the straps being low enough for a newborn. DD was 4 weeks early and around 5.5 lbs, and it seems like the lowest setting on the Touriva would have been too low for her. I fact, we still have the straps on the lowest setting for her, as the middle one comes above her shoulder level. I won't necessarily have another early, tiny baby, but newborns just seem lost in convertable seats. But it does seem like two Tourivas and a high back booster with a 5 pt. harness could work. I'll have to go to babiesrus and try out floor models.

Does anyone know of a really narrow infant car seat?

Thanks, Heather! I'll definitely check it out!

[Trishy]

Here is a great page with measurements of a lot of different car seats. An infant seat will probably be a lot narrower if you install it without the base but you will wither need to leave it in the car or reinstall it properly each time:

http://www.carseatdata.org/csnumbers.html