7 seater layout w/ child seats?

[RVD98072]

I got the 7 seater configuration because I have a lot of people that I drive on a regular basis. It is usually me, wife, 3 kids (12, 4, 2), and grandparents. We have 2 car seats for the 2 youngest.

One of the grandparents has mobility issues so it's a little hard for her to get in/out but she manages.

In our current car (minivan), I have the 2 carseats in the 2nd row passenger and drivers side. My 12 year old usually sits in the middle. I usually drive. The other 3 adults (grandparents + wife) move around a bit but one sits in the front passenger seat and the other 2 sit 3rd row. The problem with this setup is that it's hard to get in/out of the 3rd row. The kids are usually strapped into their seats first so at that point, there's little space to go around them to get back to the 3rd row.

Because of the number of people, we almost never put the 3rd row down.

I was going to do the same setup in the Model X but I'm thinking of using the 3rd for one of the car seats for the kids. So it would be something like one kid seat in the 2nd row, 1 in the 3rd row and that way we have one more spot in the 2nd row for an adult (or my 12 year old). This way one side of the 2nd row will be free to move to give space to get into the 3rd row easily.

Does anyone else do this? How easy/hard is it to strap in your child in the 3rd row?

 

[Jouley]

We haven't taken delivery yet, but our plan is to put our older child (booster seat) and a parent or grandparent in the 3rd row when transporting everyone. This way our younger child will be in the more easily accessible 2nd row in the infant/toddler seat and our older child can either buckle himself into the booster in the 3rd row or get help from the adult if necessary. Can your 12 year old help buckle a child into a carseat in the 3rd row?

 

[RVD98072]

Yes the 12 year old can buckle the child into the third row so we'll try it.

 

[Jouley]

A 12 year old may find it easiest to get into the third row regardless.

 

[Dazureus]

Is your 2 year old forward facing yet? The third row has latch as well so you could have one seat outboard in the second row and one seat in the third. You could put the second row child seat in the middle so it's easier on the grandparents, but that will have to be a belt installation.

 

[MachoTiger]

Sounds exactly like my setup. We have 5 kids. The 5-year old is in a car seat in the 3rd row. The 11 mos baby is in a rear-facing seat in the 2nd row.

We tried a booster seat in the 3rd row for our 7 yo, but it was too difficult to buckle, so we moved it up to the 2nd row next to the baby.

Overall, it's been great. Easy entry and exit for all.

 

[RVD98072]

So i currently have this set up so that one car seat is in the 2nd row (behind the driver) and one car seat is in the 3rd row passenger side.

My logic is that I can use the single seat 2nd row and slide it forward to give plenty of space to buckle in a kid into the 3rd row. I can also slide the double 2nd row and slide it forward a little bit (even with the car seat there) so someone can sit in the empty 3rd row seat (driver side). The double seat can still slide forward all the way even if you happen to have a child sitting in the car seat n the 2nd row if the child is small enough and ok with feet up for a few minutes.

However, yesterday I was in a full car and was trying to slide the 2nd row forward a little bit to let out the 3rd row person but it didn't seem to work. Maybe the button is disabled if it detects weight on both middle and drivers side 2nd row seat.

I'm thinking of maybe changing the configuration to have both child seats on the passenger side (2nd and 3rd rows). Or I may move to a more traditional driver + passenger side 2nd row so that I can fold down the 3rd row for more trunk space.

Both car seats are forward facing so I think there will still be access to the middle seat for my 11 year old son.

I'm still playing around with this a bit.