2016 Buick Regal: Car Seat Check
CARS.COM — Smaller families shopping for a luxurious midsize sedan should take a closer look at the 2016 Buick Regal. This midsize sedan wears upscale styling with a sporty edge and easily fit most of our child-safety seats in its backseat. We ran into problems with the rear-facing infant seat. To fit it, we had to move the front passenger seat forward, leaving our 5-foot-8 tester with her knees touching the glove box. This was a notable change from the 2015 Regal’s Car Seat Check, which fit the infant seat without a problem. The difference between the two Car Seat Checks was our testers and their heights. A mere 2 inches in our testers’ heights took the Regal’s infant seat score from an A to a C.
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two
What We Like
- The Regal has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats, plus one additional anchor in the middle position. This setup allows parents to install a car seat in the middle using the Latch system. Parents should remember, however, not to double-up on Latch anchors — only one Latch connector should be attached to each Latch anchor. The Latch anchors are easy to use.
- The Regal has three tether anchors on the rear shelf behind the removable head restraints. They also were easy to use.
- The rear-facing convertible fit well. There was no need to move the front passenger seat forward to accommodate it.
- The forward-facing convertible also fit well in the Regal. After we removed the head restraint, the convertible installed easily.
- The wide outboard rear seats allowed ample room for our high-back booster seat. The seat belt buckles can be pulled up slightly, making them easier to grasp.
What We Don’t
- We had to move the front passenger seat forward to fit the rear-facing infant seat, leaving our 5-foot-8 tester’s knees touching the glove box.
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.
