2015 Subaru Legacy: Car Seat Check

Families in the market for a midsize sedan face an overwhelming array of choices, but if you’re looking for one with all-wheel drive, the list gets narrowed a quite a bit. One option, the Subaru Legacy, was redesigned for 2015 with fresh exterior styling, a new multimedia system and a more comfortable cabin. There’s plenty of room for two child-safety seats in the new Legacy, but parents may have a bit of trouble with the sedan’s Latch anchors.

More Car Seat Checks

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

What We Like

• In both rear- and forward-facing modes, the convertible was easy to install and fit well. There was no need to move the front passenger seat forward to accommodate the car seat in rear-facing mode and no need to raise the car’s head restraint with the convertible in forward-facing mode.
• The Legacy’s relatively flat backseat accommodated our booster seat nicely. The buckles are also on stable bases and easy to use because they stick out just far enough for small hands to easily grasp.

What We Don’t

• The two sets of Latch anchors are behind Velcroed fabric flaps and sit deep in the seat bight surrounded by seat foam cushioning, which encroached on the anchors and complicated connection.
• We had to move the front passenger seat forward just a bit to make room for the rear-facing infant seat, and it was a little difficult to access the Latch anchors with the infant seat’s hooklike connectors.

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 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 and David Thomas