2014 Toyota Corolla: Car Seat Check

The Toyota Corolla is one of the best-selling sedans in the compact class, so chances are many moms and dads rely on it for family transport. The Corolla was redesigned for 2014 with flashier styling and better fuel efficiency, but it’s not the most family-friendly sedan in the class. Difficult-to-access Latch anchors and a tight backseat kept this sedan from acing our Car Seat Check.

While we normally use a Britax Roundabout convertible car seat in our checks, we used a Britax Marathon convertible in this one. The Marathon is roughly the same width and height as the Roundabout, but the Marathon’s depth is 21 inches while the Roundabout measures at 24.4 inches.

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

What We Like

• Although the sedan has fixed outboard head restraints, they didn’t interfere with the high-back booster or the forward-facing convertible; both fit well and had enough room.
• The buckles are on stable bases, making them easier for kids to use in a booster.
• We did not have to move the front passenger seat forward to accommodate the infant seat.

What We Don’t

• The Corolla has two sets of Latch anchors in the outboard seats, but they’re set too deep into the seat bight and the seat bottom cushion is firm, complicating access when installing all of our child seats.

• We had to move the front passenger seat forward in order to fit the rear-facing convertible seat.

Grading Scale

A: Plenty of room for the car seat and the child; doesn’t impact driver or front-passenger legroom. Easy to find and connect to Latch and tether anchors. No fit issues involving head restraint or seat contouring. Easy access to the third row. 

B:

Plenty of room. One fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing third row when available.

C: Marginal room. Two fit or connection issues. Difficult to access third row when available.

D: Insufficient room. Two or more fit or connection issues.

F: Does not fit or is unsafe.

About Cars.com’s Car Seat Checks

Editors Jennifer Geiger and Jennifer Newman are certified child safety seat installation technicians.

For the Car Seat Check, we use an infant-safety seat, a convertible seat and booster seat.  The front seats are adjusted 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 and convertible seats are installed behind the front passenger seat.

We also install the forward-facing convertible 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; a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. If there’s a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible. To learn more about how we conduct our Car Seat Checks, go here.

Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat.

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