2017 Hyundai Elantra: Car Seat Check
CARS.COM — Hyundai made a good thing even better with the redesign of its compact car. The 2017 Elantra got revised styling, more safety features and additional creature comforts such as an optional proximity-activated automatic truck. For families, the big news is in the backseat. The 2017 Elantra has an extra inch and a half of legroom over the 2016 model. There was plenty of room for two child-safety seats in the back, and installation was easy.
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two
What We Like
- The two sets of Latch anchors sit just within the seat bight for easy access. Although the leather upholstery was stiff, we had no problem pushing past it to connect to the anchors, especially with the convertible’s rigid connectors.
- In both forward- and rear-facing mode, the convertible installed easily and fit well. In forward mode, it was easy to connect to one of the three top tether anchors on the rear shelf once we removed the head restraint. In rear mode, we did not need to move the front passenger seat forward to make room.
- The booster fit nicely on the lightly bolstered seat and we didn’t need to raise the head restraint to install it. The buckles are on short stable stalks, so kids should be able to grasp them easily. Note that the middle position’s buckle is floppy, however.
What We Don’t
- We had to move the front passenger seat forward a bit to make room for the infant seat, but the 5-foot-6 passenger had enough knee room.
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 shorter 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.
