2013 Ford Taurus: Car Seat Check
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.
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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 convertible seat in the second row’s middle seat with the booster and infant seat 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 2013 Ford Taurus did in Cars.com’s Car Seat Check:
Latch system: The Taurus has two sets of lower Latch anchors that are set closer to the second row’s middle seating position. According to the owner’s manual, this setup allows parents to use Latch anchors to secure a car seat in any of the three seating positions. However, parents shouldn’t double up on the anchors, meaning they should only connect one car seat to each anchor set.
While this setup is a great idea, we found that the Taurus’ bolstered seat cushions caused our child-safety seats to sit slightly askew. Most of the anchors are easy to use because of a huge gap in the seat bight, where the back and bottom cushions meet. The inboard anchor behind the driver’s seat is difficult to use because it sits behind two seat belt buckles.
Booster seat: Our high-back booster seat fit well in the backseat. The seat belt buckles are stable and easy to reach.
Convertible seat: Both the forward- and rear-facing convertibles had plenty of room in the Taurus’ backseat, but both seats sat at a slightly awkward angle because of the Latch-anchor placement and seat bolstering. Three tether anchors are on the Taurus’ rear shelf and are easy to use.
Infant-safety seat: To fit this rear-facing car seat, we had to move the front passenger forward. However, the front passenger still had plenty of legroom.
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two, but three nearly fit.
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.
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