2012 Honda Civic Coupe: Car Seat Check

This Car Seat Check was originally published in October 2011 on MotherProof.com.

With its 2012 redesign, the Honda Civic coupe underwent more dramatic exterior restyling than its sedan counterpart. Unlike the sedan, which gained more backseat legroom for 2012, the coupe lost a little second-row legroom. For our Car Seat Check, we tested a 2012 Civic Si. To see how the 2012 Civic sedan performed in our Car Seat Check, click here.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide 30 rear-facing infant-safety seat, a Britax Roundabout convertible child-safety seat and Graco high-back TurboBooster seat.

The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are installed behind the passenger seat. We also install the infant seat in the second row’s middle seat with the booster and convertible in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit. If there’s a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible.

Here’s how the 2012 Civic coupe did in MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check:

Latch system: There are two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats. Though they’re not exposed, but it was easy to move the cushions out of the way to get at the anchors. The Civic coupe has three easy-to-use tether anchors on the rear shelf behind the head restraints.

Booster seat: The Si’s seat bolsters made it difficult for our high-back booster seat to sit upright. The booster leaned toward the middle of the backseat. The seat belt buckles are floppy, making it difficult for kids to use independently. The buckle also kept falling behind our booster seat.

Convertible seat: Front passengers should prepare to have their seat kicked a lot if there’s a forward-facing convertible seat behind them. While the forward-facing convertible fits in the coupe’s backseat, there wasn’t much legroom back there (photo below).

To fit the rear-facing convertible behind the front passenger seat, we had to move the seat forward, leaving the front passenger’s knees jammed into the glove box.

Infant-safety seat: To fit this rear-facing seat, we had to move the front passenger seat all the way forward. This left the front passenger’s knees angled into the center stack.

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

Editor’s note: For three car seats — infant-safety seat, convertible and booster seats — to fit in a car, our criterion is that a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat.