Rear facing child seats in 2nd Row

[hdnyc]

I know a few people were curious to know how a rearfacing child carseat would fit in the second row of the Model X.

I tried both of our convertible car seats and they both fit. We have a Clek Foonf as our main car seat and a Cosco Scenera NEXT as our travel car seat. The Clek took up much more space because it is huge, but it still fit and the front seat was comfortable for me (I'm a 5'6" woman). I'm not sure if it would fit comfortable behind a 6'2" driver. The Cosco Scenera NEXT had much more space and was more comfortable for the person sitting in the front seat with the car seat behind them, but that makes sense since it is a relatively tiny car seat.

I could not access the third row with the Clek Foonf, but I could climb back into the third row with the Cosco Scenera NEXT. It wasn't as easy as it is normally, but it could be done in a pinch, especially if kids are the ones climbing back there.

Attached are some pictures in case that helps anyone. Image 9793 is the Cosco Scenera NEXT, image 9800 is the Clek Foonf. Also attaching some pics of my travel stroller in the car, since people looking for info on car seats are probably looking for info on strollers as well! The stroller is a Valco Snap - it's a little bit smaller than a City Mini stroller.

 

[loganintx]

How about a photo showing the passenger front seat and its position when a rear facing child seat is behind it.

 

[hdnyc]

How about a photo showing the passenger front seat and its position when a rear facing child seat is behind it.

Here you are. . .this is with the Clek Foonf behind it. I had a minimum of 5" between my knees and the glove compartment.

One thing to note - my rear facing car seats are not in the fully reclined "infant" positions. Both of the seats show that they have to be reclined to a certain degree for smaller/younger children, but they can be used more upright with older children who can sit up on their own with full neck control. So if you're putting a young baby in one of these seats, they would be reclined even further, taking up more of the front passenger's room. This wouldn't be an issue for most people I know, since everyone I know with a baby has them in the portable infant bucket seat when they're little, and then moves them to the convertible seat when they're older. . .but I guess some people could be impacted if they choose to just buy the one convertible car seat and use it from birth.

 

[loganintx]

Thanks. We have an almost 4 year old and our daughter turned one today. She will be in a child seat for a while and our son will be in a booster soon. In our XC60, the passenger seat has to be very far forward for the baby seat to fit. The X should have a few more inches of space. Will be glad when they are both in boosters though.

 

[hdnyc]

Thanks. We have an almost 4 year old and our daughter turned one today. She will be in a child seat for a while and our son will be in a booster soon. In our XC60, the passenger seat has to be very far forward for the baby seat to fit. The X should have a few more inches of space. Will be glad when they are both in boosters though.

I have a 2-year-old now and will be having a newborn this summer! I could turn the 2-year-old around and have her face forward. That would give us a lot more space in the front passenger seat. . .but it is so much safer for her to rear face and she doesn't seem to mind riding backwards, so for now we will just deal with a little less room in the front seat.

 

[Dazureus]

Thanks for the pictures! We have two Clek Foonfs for our twins still in the rear facing position and I was interested in how this will fit. It's okay in our current RAV4 so I wasn't worried about how it would fit in our Model X. I guess I'll see how the Baby Jogger city select fits this weekend when we pick up our X!.

 

[AnthGlick]

Thanks for the pictures! We have two Clek Foonfs for our twins still in the rear facing position and I was interested in how this will fit. It's okay in our current RAV4 so I wasn't worried about how it would fit in our Model X. I guess I'll see how the Baby Jogger city select fits this weekend when we pick up our X!.

Look forward to your report on that (hopefully with pictures!).

 

[Dazureus]

Sorry for the late update. I've been having too much time driving this awesome vehicle.

We decided to keep the Clek Foonfs in the Rav4 for alternative baby transportation and picked up some Diono R120s for the Model X. These seats can fold up, so I can remove them and stash them in the trunk or frunk when I need to take more adults around. I've attached some pictures of what the two rear facing seats look like. Diono sells a separate foam piece that you wedge under the car seat to incline it when the baby has good control of their head and neck. It decreases the recline angle and gives you more space to move your seat back. We did have the two cleks in there for a few days after we took delivery, and they still gave me (6'0") more than enough leg room for driving.

There's about 19" between the two Diono seats, which should be enough hip space for a third in the middle. There aren't any latch points in the middle, so you'll need to use the lap belt method. Both the Diono radian line and the Clek Foonf boast the narrowest bases and are designed for three across in most large vehicles. I'm pretty confident the Foonfs could also go three across in the Model X.

I've also attached pictures of our tandem inline baby jogger city select. It's a beast that folds in half with removable seats. Even still, it's possible to have the third row deployed with the city select and two seats sitting vertically in the trunk well. One seat fits well in the frunk and you might be able to squeeze two in there.

Lastly, I've attached pictures of our tandem side-by-side MacLaren Twin triumph. It's more of an umbrella stroller on steroids, and collapses much better than the city select. It easily fits in the trunk well, and can almost fit in the frunk, but the wheels are still to wide when folded, for the frunk to close.

 

[sflecarfan]

Can anyone help? When you car seats are installed on the second row seats what do you do about the air? In our X when pressure is applied to the seat it causes the air back there to come on full blast through the seat. DS said this is normal. I find it a bit annoying. So you simply turn the fan down? Does it stay cool enough back there or is this action by our seats not normal?

 

[gmtom1]

Thanks for sharing the pics and your experience! How have you found the ergonomics of putting your child in the rear-facing seat? One of the frequently cited advantages of the FWD is the ability to stand up in the car when putting your child in the seat, but that really only works for front-facing seats.

Also, I notice you have 7 seats - how's the driver's rear visibility? I originally was going to order 7, but after Elon's comments and early posts here, I decided 6 was better for visibility and comfort.

Appreciate your thoughts and sharing!

 

[itay]

We have a one month old with a rear facing infant seat (an Uppababy Mesa) on the seat next to the passenger-side FWD, and also have 7-seats.

Putting him in and taking him out of the car is the best thing ever - we were previously doing it in a Prius, and not having to bend and reach through a normal door is just awesome, it makes it a lot more convenient. So from an ergonomic perspective both my wife and I are thrilled.

The visibility through the rear window is not great - the rear window is small to begin with, and the rear-view mirror is small to begin with, and then you add in the middle seat headrest and it's not a winning combination. That said, it's unclear to me it's really a problem. The only time where it really occludes something is a car is far enough behind you that it's "small" enough to fit mostly behind the headrest, but in that case, it's far enough behind you that you don't need to care. I've found that the visibility I do have + the rear view camera is more than good enough. Would I prefer better rear visibility? Of course. Is it bothering me while I'm driving? Not really. Do I think it's stupid that center headrest doesn't fold? Yes

Hope this helps.

 

[sflecarfan]

@itay have you found that you've had to turn the fan down for the air control in the rear, due to the pressure of your installed car seat?

 

[Dazureus]

I haven't noticed that the fan in the rear is higher than the settings in the front. I keep both front and rear on auto and the temperature and fan speed in the back syncs up with the front settings.

As itay said, getting babies in rear facing seats with the Falcon Wing Doors is the best thing ever. Our Cleck Foonfs have high seat side bolsters, the Diono Radian 120's less so. But with no roof above the seat, you can just drop them straight down into the chair. My twins have taken a liking to standing up in the seat, facing the back of the car, and sitting down themselves before we buckle them in. They're just tall enough to peek up over the top of the roof and look around.

 

[MonsterCarter]

@Dazureus what brand seat protectors do you have? I can imagine my Son kicking our seat often!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dazureus]

I have the Brica seat guardians. They have four (silicone?) rubber strips that go through the bottom of the pad so it helps prevent slipping both between the seat and protector, and protector and car seat. They're pretty rigid, so even when tightening down the latch straps of the car seat, I'm not too worried about pressure points on the leather. There are cut outs for latch connectors, which aren't perfect, but work well enough and there's one strap that secures it over the head rest.

 

[MITLA]

Sorry for the late update. I've been having too much time driving this awesome vehicle.

We decided to keep the Clek Foonfs in the Rav4 for alternative baby transportation and picked up some Diono R120s for the Model X. These seats can fold up, so I can remove them and stash them in the trunk or frunk when I need to take more adults around. I've attached some pictures of what the two rear facing seats look like. Diono sells a separate foam piece that you wedge under the car seat to incline it when the baby has good control of their head and neck. It decreases the recline angle and gives you more space to move your seat back. We did have the two cleks in there for a few days after we took delivery, and they still gave me (6'0") more than enough leg room for driving.

There's about 19" between the two Diono seats, which should be enough hip space for a third in the middle. There aren't any latch points in the middle, so you'll need to use the lap belt method. Both the Diono radian line and the Clek Foonf boast the narrowest bases and are designed for three across in most large vehicles. I'm pretty confident the Foonfs could also go three across in the Model X.

I've also attached pictures of our tandem inline baby jogger city select. It's a beast that folds in half with removable seats. Even still, it's possible to have the third row deployed with the city select and two seats sitting vertically in the trunk well. One seat fits well in the frunk and you might be able to squeeze two in there.

Lastly, I've attached pictures of our tandem side-by-side MacLaren Twin triumph. It's more of an umbrella stroller on steroids, and collapses much better than the city select. It easily fits in the trunk well, and can almost fit in the frunk, but the wheels are still to wide when folded, for the frunk to close.

For the Diono are they on the 2nd row rear facing? How did you end up hooking up the tether? I can't seem to find a good spot unless my eyes are going bad. must be the age...!

 

[Dazureus]

For the Diono are they on the 2nd row rear facing? How did you end up hooking up the tether? I can't seem to find a good spot unless my eyes are going bad. must be the age...!

We had them rear facing for a few months after we got the Model X, then transitioned to forward facing once they passed the threshold. We didn't use the tether in the rear facing installation, but there are a few videos out there where you use a strap on the front chair rail to attach the tether to if you want to use it. We do use the tether now that they're forward facing.

 

[MITLA]

We had them rear facing for a few months after we got the Model X, then transitioned to forward facing once they passed the threshold. We didn't use the tether in the rear facing installation, but there are a few videos out there where you use a strap on the front chair rail to attach the tether to if you want to use it. We do use the tether now that they're forward facing.

I was under the impression the tether was required.

 

[Sparktz]

I was under the impression the tether was required.

I think the tether is required for forward facing, but not rear facing.

 

[MITLA]

I think the tether is required for forward facing, but not rear facing.

Without the rear facing teather, did the seat still feel secure? What about the diono angle adjuster? Is it necessary to use that?