2015 Lexus NX 200t F Sport: Car Seat Check

It’s not surprising that Lexus’ newest crossover has stylish good looks and sporty road manners. What’s unexpected is this compact crossover’s relatively roomy backseat. Accessible Latch anchors and decent legroom made installing some of our child-safety seats a breeze; we had a bit of trouble when it came to our rear-facing infant seat, however.

More Car Seat Checks

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

What We Like

• The NX’s two sets of lower Latch anchors don’t sit too deeply into the seat bight, and the seatbacks recline for easy access.
• In both forward- and rear-facing modes, the convertible went in easily and had enough room. Although the outboard seats are heavily bolstered, they did not interfere with the angle of the seat after installation.  

What We Don’t

• The outboard seats’ top tether anchors are easy to use but the middle position’s anchor is in the ceiling, which impedes rear visibility. Note also that the middle spot’s seat belt webbing comes down from ceiling and connects close to the outboard passenger’s position, which could be uncomfortable for that passenger.
• To install the rear-facing infant seat, we had to move the front passenger seat too far forward for our tester and adjust the seatback to an uncomfortably upright angle. The front passenger’s seatback is sculpted and sticks out, taking up a lot of room in the backseat.
• The booster fit well despite the heavily bolstered seats, but the buckles are recessed into cushion so kids will likely have trouble grasping them.

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 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.