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The median vehicle in the US is fully capable of seating three child safe seats. Yes, if you get a Honda Civic you're going to struggle. But sales of sedans ar

The median vehicle in the US is fully capable of seating three child safe seats. Yes, if you get a Honda Civic you're going to struggle. But sales of sedans are absolutely swamped by SUVs and trucks. The best selling car in America by a long shot is the F-series pickup truck, with about 900,000 units sold. You can easily fit three child seats in it[0] Oh, the number two and number three best selling vehicles are the RAM 1500 truck and the Chevy Silverado, at 633k and 575k. The Silverado is a bit smaller, but it too will fit three seats[1] across. You have to get to number eight in the list before you find a sedan at all, the Toyota Camry. You have to get to nine and ten on the list before you start finding sedans that would get uncomfortably tight fitting three seats, specifically the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, and even those will fit three if you're careful in your shopping. The top selling car that I'm pretty comfortable you simply could not fit three car seats in is the Nissan Sentra at number 19, with only 184k sales last year. Now, 184K sales isn't nothing. There are clearly cars sold in America that will not fit three car seats. But the sales of those cars are dwarfed by large trucks and SUVs. In 2019 Ford sold more f-series trucks than the top three sedans combined. And that's before we consider the sales of three row SUVs which can easily fit 4-5 child safe seats in them. So, if Americans are willing to buy massive vehicles capable of seating three seats safely by the literal millions, how in the world is that consistent with "the cost of upgrading to a car capable of seating three seats is a major barrier to having more children"? 0 - Here's a list of all the child seats that'll fit three across in a F-150: https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/3-across-installations-f-150/ https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/3-across-installations-... 1 - https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/3-across-installations-silverado/ https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/3-across-installations-...

kube-system 6y ago
Looking at vehicle total sales figures is a very bad way to determine what families drive. Those numbers you cite include corporate fleet sales, which heavily skew domestic truck sales figures. Nor are all of those trucks in a crew-cab configuration. But yes, even many mid-size cars and SUVs are difficult to fit three seats in. https://www.consumerreports.org/car-seats/how-to-fit-child-car-seats-three-across/ https://www.consumerreports.org/car-seats/how-to-fit-child-c... > we assess a vehicle’s ability to securely and easily accommodate three child restraints in the second row. Our test results have shown that unless you’re driving a full-sized crew-cab pickup truck or an Audi Q7, the installation is going to be difficult, if it's even possible. (It is kind of funny that your source shows a picture of a single cab 97-03 F150 in regards to fitting child seats three across... :D )
pandaman 6y ago
You assume any SUV is automatically the size of Suburban so you skipped over CR-V and RAV4, which should be just under the tucks in any best selling vehicles list? They do not have much more passenger room than a Civic (more headroom but the size and distance between the seats is basically the same). A "compact SUV" is a thing.
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  There are plenty of car seats that’ll fit 3 across in a CR-V. There are plenty that’ll go 3 across in a civic, although the lack of trunk space for strollers would obviously be an issue with three children. You can’t buy any random car seat, of course, but an ounce of up front research will help you pick one that’ll fit. I find it kind of perplexing how many people pretend that you simply cannot put 3 child seats in a small SUV, it’s incredibly trivial to Google and find ones that will fit. This isn’t rocket science, I found a site that’ll list which seats will fit 3 across in which cars in the first hit on Google.
  - pandaman 6y ago
    The problem is that you don't just put child seats into the car for fun - you are supposed to put children in them too. Children are not going to teleport in and out and they need to crawl/be put in their seats. The middle seat will be a hard reach in a compact.
    - ashtonkem 6y ago
      That is a wholly different argument from “they won’t fit”. I absolutely agree that a larger vehicle is more convenient for people with 3 or more kids. But that isn’t the argument people have been making in this thread. The assertions it that you can’t fit 3 car seats in these cars, an assertion which is provably false.
      - pandaman 6y ago
        I don't see anybody making the argument that no 3 child seats can fit in a compact car, I've only responded to your post claiming that Americans drive giant cars and using the bestseller list as a proof.

kube-system 6y ago

Looking at vehicle total sales figures is a very bad way to determine what families drive. Those numbers you cite include corporate fleet sales, which heavily skew domestic truck sales figures. Nor are all of those trucks in a crew-cab configuration. But yes, even many mid-size cars and SUVs are difficult to fit three seats in. https://www.consumerreports.org/car-seats/how-to-fit-child-car-seats-three-across/ https://www.consumerreports.org/car-seats/how-to-fit-child-c... > we assess a vehicle’s ability to securely and easily accommodate three child restraints in the second row. Our test results have shown that unless you’re driving a full-sized crew-cab pickup truck or an Audi Q7, the installation is going to be difficult, if it's even possible. (It is kind of funny that your source shows a picture of a single cab 97-03 F150 in regards to fitting child seats three across... :D )

pandaman 6y ago

You assume any SUV is automatically the size of Suburban so you skipped over CR-V and RAV4, which should be just under the tucks in any best selling vehicles list? They do not have much more passenger room than a Civic (more headroom but the size and distance between the seats is basically the same). A "compact SUV" is a thing.

ashtonkem 6y ago
There are plenty of car seats that’ll fit 3 across in a CR-V. There are plenty that’ll go 3 across in a civic, although the lack of trunk space for strollers would obviously be an issue with three children. You can’t buy any random car seat, of course, but an ounce of up front research will help you pick one that’ll fit. I find it kind of perplexing how many people pretend that you simply cannot put 3 child seats in a small SUV, it’s incredibly trivial to Google and find ones that will fit. This isn’t rocket science, I found a site that’ll list which seats will fit 3 across in which cars in the first hit on Google.
- pandaman 6y ago
  The problem is that you don't just put child seats into the car for fun - you are supposed to put children in them too. Children are not going to teleport in and out and they need to crawl/be put in their seats. The middle seat will be a hard reach in a compact.
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    That is a wholly different argument from “they won’t fit”. I absolutely agree that a larger vehicle is more convenient for people with 3 or more kids. But that isn’t the argument people have been making in this thread. The assertions it that you can’t fit 3 car seats in these cars, an assertion which is provably false.
    - pandaman 6y ago
      I don't see anybody making the argument that no 3 child seats can fit in a compact car, I've only responded to your post claiming that Americans drive giant cars and using the bestseller list as a proof.