2015 Buick LaCrosse: Car Seat Check

The Buick LaCrosse full-size sedan returns for the 2015 model year with some well-executed tweaks worthy of what Cars.com reviewer Mike Hanley referred to as the brand’s “product renaissance.” A quiet cabin, upscale interior, simple dashboard layout and commensurately simple-to-use multimedia system are noteworthy improvements. But the LaCrosse didn’t need much improvement in terms of child-safety-seat installation. We gave the 2014 LaCrosse high marks in nearly all areas, with the only drawbacks being floppy seat-belt buckles and fixed head restraints. Can the 2015 model measure up to that standard? Read the Car Seat Check below and find out.

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

More Car Seat Checks

What We Like

• There are two sets of outboard Latch anchors, with one additional anchor in the middle seat. This setup allows parents to install a car seat with the Latch system in the middle seat. The LaCrosse also has three top tether anchors on the rear shelf, removable outboard head restraints and a fixed head restraint in the middle position.
• All four of our seats — a booster, infant, forward-facing convertible and rear-facing convertible — fit well and installed easily.
• Installation of the rear-facing infant and the convertible seats did not require moving the front passenger seat forward.
• Easy-to-use tether anchors simplified the installation of the forward-facing convertible seat.

What We Don’t

• The seat belts are on floppy buckles, which could be difficult for younger children to use by themselves.

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