Carseats in trucks

[B20EF]

I'm looking into getting a 'truck'. I'm heavily leaning towards Honda Ridgeline for certain reasons like comfort of ride, fuel milage, reliability but fitting carseats is also a huge factor for me. I have forward and rear facing right now.

I consider Tacoma and Frontier to be competitors but they seem a lot smaller in the backseat. Almost too small for a carseat.

Ridgline seems to have almost same size interior as full size trucks.

Specs on the website are one thing but how do you guys find carseats fit in your Tacoma, Frontier, Ridgeline, F-150, RAMS...

Thanks

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Ridgeline has more room than a taco or frontier. I'd go to an automall and drag your seats around and test them in the showroom. You'll notice other things like door opening angles.

Ride quality with youngen's is also important, you'll notice the ridgeline drives smoother and is quieter. It does have more room in the rear than a quad cab nissan or taco.

I bought a Pilot a few years ago over the ridgeline but I would recommend both. I work at a Toyota and have friends with Taco's. They are awesome trucks but not my first choice for a family primary vehicle.

[danno]

in our ram which the wife drives the most it fits well. we have to life our daughter pretty high to get her in which doesn't bother me and the wife doesn't complain but it may be a problem for some. every car seat is differnt best bet is to go to the store and try it in the vehicle.

[AndyL]

Quad cab ram - You'll rue the day you pondered this option.

Angles of the back rest and seat bottom are wierd - the bench seat bottom - except in the middle - is too short to accommodate the seat correctly. Front or rear facing - they don't fit 'right'.

So yes - take your car seat for the shopping trip I wish we had...

[blairtruck]

I laughed when I heard ridge line is a truck

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Originally posted by blairtruck
I laughed when I heard ridge line is a truck

Very petty post. This is about car seats for his family.

[ExtraSlow]

For sure take your car seat with you. Every carseat fits differently, and you'd be surprised how much this matters. Don't even try to guess. Spend the 15 minutes and actually install and tighten the seat into each vehicle.
Found out that one of the four carseats we own was impossible to install in my F150 due to the way the tether strap worked. Never would have been able to predict it. Fits fine in all our other cars.

I think for half tons, the F150 is the largest backseat. Ram megacab may be bigger, but only available on heavier trucks.
Ridgeline is a nice little SUV, well made, and really all the "truck" most people need.

[FraserB]

Originally posted by blairtruck
I laughed when I heard ridge line is a truck

It's a vehicle for people who want to say they own a truck, but will never use the bed or tow anything.

OP: Buy an SUV if you plan on towing rarely and not much, if you'll be using the bed or towing a lot, buy a real truck.

[codetrap]

I bought the F150 SCrew specifically because of the car seat room. The one thing to note is that there is no latch in the center. This isn't really a deal breaker because the locking mechanism on the seat belt is such that you can crank it down nicely. We have a Britax Frontier, and a Graco baby bucket in there and still have room for an adult to comfortably sit.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by FraserB


It's a vehicle for people who want to say they own a truck, but will never use the bed or tow anything.

OP: Buy an SUV if you plan on towing rarely and not much, if you'll be using the bed or towing a lot, buy a real truck.

Bring back the El Camino/Australian "Utes"

[B20EF]

I knew this thread would turn into full sized truck guys hating on a Ridgeline. The fact is SUV's are not ideal for hauling around dirty camping gear, bikes, sheets of plywood or drywall, few hundred pounds of landscaping stones but you also do not need a full size truck to do any of that stuff. A 5 liter gas guzzler to drive to and from work 90% of the time seems like a waste.
An ecoboost F-150 is almost as good on gas as a Ridgeline but quite expensive and depreciates like crazy.

So thanks for the replys. Its good to know a Taco and Frontier arent even really worth looking at. I'll haul around one of my car seats to the dealers to try them out.

[hampstor]

I have 3 of the safety first carseats in my Titan and still have about 4"+ between the seats. My wife has 2 Diono Radian and 1 infant bucket in her Altima. She will have 3 of the radians in the Altima when the infant is older. You should have no issues with a ridgeline if you have the right seats.

However as everyone has said, bring it with you and install it. Heck make fitment of them a condition of sale .

[B20EF]

^^I also have th Diono Radian. They are an awesome seat. The rear facing Peg Perego is the one I'm worried about or the Britax Boulevard because it's pretty big rear and forward facing.

[Kavy]

I have a 2013 quad cab and im 6' tall. With my drivers seat all the way back a child seat doesn't fit. With it a few clicks forward my child seat does fit but it's a tight squeeze.

I put it I'm the middle now and use those lockdowns. I actually prefer this as it allows me to have better access to my daughter when on long trips.

I do echo the comments that you need a crew cab to fit it with the seat fully back.

I owned a taco and a child seat in there is laughable, not gonna happen.

[Masked Bandit]

I actually had to sell my Frontier Crew Cab when the youngest went to a rear facing car seat (not bucket). Stick with the Ridgeline at minimum and if you consider full size, skip the quad cab / extended cab options all together. Go full size crew cab.

[Unknown303]

Even my crew cab Dodge just fits a removable rear facing bucket.

[blitz]

Keep in mind that relative to a vehicle purchase it's cheap to buy a new carseat that fits better.

A second Diono Radian might be the solution, they have an angle adjuster for rear facing that takes less room too.

[SOAB]

My F150 supercrew fits my kids front facing car seats no problem.

[Unknown303]

Originally posted by SOAB
My F150 supercrew fits my kids front facing car seats no problem.

Are front facing ever an issue? I have front facing in the rear seat of my Jeep and there's no issues there. And that's a very small back seat.

[spikerS]

The biggest reason I bought my F150 supercrew, was when we were talking to the salesman, the girls climbed in the back seat, folded the seats up, and proceeded to have a dance party. Our 4 year old (almost 5) is now just starting to be able to reach the back of my seat with her foot.

And seriously, you can easily fit 3 regular sized forward facing car seats sidexsidexside back there.

When I did all of my comparison shopping, the only truck that came close to the room my F150 has was the Dodge Mega Cab, and those things look nasty to me.

I never took a ridgeline out, nor have I been in one, but as said before, I cringe whenever someone calls it a truck.