Are Car Seats Really Safe In The 3rd Row?
We are having our third child and that means I will have 3 kids in car seats. We are getting 05′ Infiniti Qx56 because of how roomy it is with the third row. My question is are car seats as safe when harnessed in by the regular seat belt instead of the latches? It has caption chairs for the 2nd row so obviously thats where the baby will go (latches will be used) However I’ll be putting my then just about 4 year old and 2 year old in the third row in 5 point harness car seats but there are no latches so I would have to install them using the seat belts, is that really safe. What I like about this SUV is there is still a good amount of space between the third row and the back of the car incase someone rear ends me. Growing families don’t really have options not to use 3 rows so why don’t they put latches back there? or are there any SUV’s that do?? Have you read any safety things on this topic?? Third rows do fold completely down, which makes me think not so sturdy, but then again a lot of 2nd rows do that now to. Thanks for your help.
P.S. Please don’t suggest a van….. ugh I’m only 29 and I really don’t want to drive a van, LOL
Seat belt install is just as safe as LATCH. LATCH was created to simplify install and make it easier to get a good install. It is not safer, just supposed to be easier. You should always use whichever one gives you a better install. As far as statistically speaking with accidents, I honestly don’t know if 3rd row is any different. But as far as needing to use seatbelt because there is no LATCH, that is not a problem!
Some 3rd rows do have LATCH, but I believe most are minivans. I glanced through my LATCH manual and didn’t see any SUV’s with LATCH in 3rd row, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. If you really want to find an SUV with 3rd row LATCH, I recommend posting on http://www.car-seat.org.
I have read a lot about the third rows used for car seats and children and everything that I have read states that its very unsafe due to the fact of rear-end collisions and the limited space that is between the seat and the rear door/hatch…………
I would suggest you contact your dealer to get a recommendation from them and if anchors are required, by all means if the dealer has them and can install them let them do it as it is a small price to pay for a bit of piece of mind. The second row seating in a sport utility has always folded, so there is no issue with whether the seat folds or not. Does Infinity endorse a child seat in their third row as there is no actual frame but uni-body construction, so that seat may be in the crumple zone. I have used my third row seats over the past few years but I have driven Chev Suburbans for the last 12 years.