The Hyundai Sonata has a new look — both inside and out — for 2015. This midsize family sedan leaves its curves behind in favor of sharper angles. For families with young kids, this redesigned Sonata made easy work of car-seat installation thanks to its exposed Latch anchors, and it managed to improve on its previous generation’s scores. The 2015 Sonata nearly fit our three child-safety seats across its backseat. Narrow car seats might allow parents to fit three across.
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two
What We Like
- The 2015 Sonata uses a Latch anchor design that’s often seen in Mercedes-Benz cars. The anchors sit in the open and are surrounded by a plastic housing, an improvement to the previous generation’s anchors that sat between the back and bottom seat cushions. Like Mercedes’ design, the anchors have removable plastic covers. The Sonata has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats and three tether anchors on the rear shelf.
- Both the rear-facing infant and convertible seats fit well in the Sonata.
- The forward-facing convertible also installed easily, and the tether anchor was a snap to use.
- The high-back booster seat fit well in the backseat, thanks to the seat bolsters that held it in place. The bolsters help to keep the booster from riding over the seat belt buckles, which are on stable bases, but a little low.
What We Don’t
- The outboard head restraints can be raised but not removed. This is a minor complaint, but removable head restraints can help make installing a child-safety seat a little easier.
