Child Car Seats Thread

Well, I’m three weeks from adding another child to the nest. My 8 year old will be in a booster seat, and of course, my newborn will be in a rear facing car seat. After my wife and I test mounted the rear facing car seat, there was little to no room in the front passenger seat. My wife maintains there was enough room for her to sit comfortably up front, but her knees where literally right at the dashboard. Looking for feedback, photos, suggestions, etc. from those of you with car seats in your Tacomas.

 

I’ve got a forward facing and rear facing in my double cab. Plenty of room for my wife in the front seat. Knees are not anywhere near the dash and she’s 5’8”

 

Depends on the car seat, they are all different.

We have a rear facing Nuna Rava and it leaves enough room for a 5’2” person in the passenger seat. Like you said though, knees against the dash.

 

Maybe my wife and I will try another test run tomorrow to better sort things out. Perhaps the size/type of rear facing car seat makes a difference.

 

I’m sure it does make a difference. For what it’s worth, we have a Graco Snug ride click connect infant seat

 

Possible to put the infant seat in the middle with the booster seat next to it? I used mine in the middle.. found that was the only way for both front seats fo have adequate room.

 

Yeah, my wife suggested placing the rear facing car seat in the middle.

 

I have a Nuna Rava as well. Best car seat—very easy to install. One trick is playing with the angle adjuster to get a little bit more room (however, you have to limit the angle based on the neck strength of the kid). I’m 5’ 10” and survive okay with our 3-year old rear facing. When he was an infant we used the Uppababy Mesa which worked okay. I think we have a little more room with the Rava, however being able to click in the bucket car seat/carrier is so amazing with an infant.

 

happy new year. I used a Diono for my 3rd child.

https://youtu.be/fhC9Qpk1Iek

 

You dont realize how small the tacoma is until you have two car seats in the rear. If you have a car seat installed rear facing, that front seat loses all kinds of seat adjustability (what little we have). When you switch to forward facing it does make a huge difference.

When we have the nephews, I have a booster and a forward facing car seat, which still loves no room for much anything else in the rear. Forget about putting more than 3 grocery bags in the back with two car seats. If I knew I was gonna have a need for two car seats, I would trade in for a tundra. Thankfully we have no kids!

 

Nice video, as usual! I viewed it last night during my search.

I traded a Honda Civic Hatchback Sport 6MT for the Tacoma a few weeks after we found out we were expecting our second child. My wife couldn’t drive a manual transmission, and I didn’t want her tied to only one vehicle in the driveway with two kids to transport. I also wanted to get back into a truck and figured the double cab would satisfy our comforts. After barely fitting in the rear facing car seat last night, I’m sort of bummed with the limited space and my mind is all over the place.

The Tundra crossed my wife’s mind for a moment, but it’s not a realistic option for us financially.

 

I think you're out of luck. I tried it with ours and d cided to go ahead and move him forward facing early (1.5 years) These trucks suck for car seats.

 

Before this carseat thing was even a thought in my mind, I also considered a tundra over the tacoma. But using it as a daily the tundra just didn't make sense for me. It's just too big of a truck more than I would ever need on a daily basis. The biggest reason I got a truck was to put the dogs in the bed, so the tacoma was/is perfect for me. But anytime I had more than 3 people in the truck, I think about if I would have gotten the tundra.

I guess minivans do serve a puprose......

 

Like others have stated, put the rear facing seat in the middle and the booster behind the passenger. This way you also have more room for groceries behind the drivers seat instead of between the two seats.

Honestly it’s not that cramped in comparison to SUVs. My wife’s Outback doesn’t have much more room then my Tacoma. Both my kids started rear facing in the middle and now I have two forward facing seats in back. Takes all of 5 minutes to remove the seats if I need storage or adult passengers to fit.

OP stop stressing over it and enjoy the truck.

 

I sat in a Tundra in the dealer showroom during the process of purchasing my Tacoma. The Tundra felt gigantic! I couldn’t imagine wheeling it through city streets, drive-thrus, and store parking lots on a daily basis.

 

You’re right. I just need to put my mind at ease.

 

You can fit 3 wide in the back seat, kids 6, 7, 4 years
Both front seats in a comfortable position for me, I'm 6 foot

 

Agree with others.

In our previous truck, the rear facing seat was always in the middle. For some type of car seats, they get kind of crammed between the front seats and you can't really adjust the front seats.

In the previous forum I was on, clubfrontier, there were members who mentioned being able to get rear facing seats to work on their access/king cabs. One of the tricks is to not use the car seat base for the rear facing seats. Personally I like the convenience of the car seat base and just being able to click seats in.

Another thing we did with the Frontier(crew cab) was have the whole family, wife and two kids ride in the back until both kids were forward facing. So the wife would be behind the drivers seat, rear facing seat in the middle and forward facing seat behind the passenger seat. The front passenger seat would be all the way and folded down. I don't think the Tacoma has the folding down feature but maybe you can still move that seat all the way forward as possible to see if it gets it to work.

I looked at the Tundra a year or two ago too and couldn't get over the size of it too. I'm considered on the tall side by some people, about six feet tall, and thought it was weird to have to climb up into the truck and have everything feel massive inside.

Congrats on your upcoming addition!

 

Knees in the dash is extremely dangerous. Even a moderate hit from front or behind and you run the risk of doing some major damage to her legs.

 

Triple treat! They’re all adorable!

I should be ashamed of myself. I didn’t realize it was an option to remove the base. My wife just confirmed its doable.