2014 Dodge Journey: Car Seat Check
The Dodge Journey is a midsize crossover that can seat five passengers in two rows or seven with the addition of the optional third row. The Journey is one of a few cars that offer integrated booster seats. For 2014, the optional booster seats, which are in the second row’s outboard seats, cost $225. Our test car didn’t have the booster seats, which we tested in an earlier model year and liked, but it did have the optional third row.
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two
How many car seats fit in the third row? Two, but parents should only install booster seats back there.
What We Like
- The Journey has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the second row’s outboard seats, and there’s an additional anchor in the middle seating position. This fifth anchor allows parents to use the Latch system to install a child-safety seat in the middle position.
- The second row slides to create more legroom for third-row passengers and has removable head restraints, which can help make car-seat installation easier.
- The rear-facing convertible fit well in the second row without moving the front passenger seat forward to accommodate it.
- To fit the rear-facing infant seat, we had to move the front passenger seat forward. Our 5-foot-8 tester had enough legroom to sit comfortably, though.
- The forward-facing convertible also fit well, but the difficult-to-find tether anchors could be a problem for parents.
- In the second and third rows, the high-back booster seat fit easily on the flat seats. The seat belt buckles are floppy in both rows, but in the second-row buckles have elastic bands on them that make them easier to grasp.
- With the flip of a lever, the second-row seats fold and slide forward to create a roomy entrance to the third row. However, the seats don’t work as well when a car seat is installed in the outboard seats.
What We Don’t
- While we liked the lower Latch anchors in the second row, the placement of the second-row tether anchors was not a favorite. The anchors are at the bottom of the setbacks — a difficult location to reach and also easily forgettable by parents. More than 50 percent of parents forget to use the tether anchor with their forward-facing car seat.
- There aren’t any lower Latch anchors or tether anchors in the third row.
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, Jennifer Newman and Matt Schmitz are certified child safety seat installation technicians.
For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide Classic Connect 30 infant-safety seat, a Britax Marathon convertible seat and Graco TurboBooster 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, and that Latch anchors have a weight limit of 65 pounds, including the weight of the child and the weight of the seat itself.
Cars.com photos by Evan Sears
