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2017 Lexus CT 200h: Car Seat Check

img 69867703 1487805779275 jpg 2017 Lexus CT 200h | Cars.com photo by Evan Sears

CARS.COM — Change for Lexus’ CT 200h hybrid hatchback over the years has been mostly incremental, and from 2016 to 2017, nigh nonexistent. It’s still a pretty cute, five-seat four-door with a gas-electric powertrain EPA-rated at 43/40/42 mpg city/highway/combined. Families with car-seat-aged kids aren’t necessarily cross-shopping gas-only competitors like the Mini Cooper and BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo, but they might want to pay close attention to the otherwise well-performing CT 200h’s C score on installation of our infant-safety seat.

More Car Seat Checks

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

What We Like

  • The two sets of Latch anchors in the outboard seats under zippered slits in the leather upholstery are easy to access and use, as are the three well-marked top tether anchors located midway down the seatbacks under hinged plastic covers.
  • Our convertible seat in the rear-facing position was a breeze to install and enabled us to move the front passenger seat back for some additional legroom.
  • Installing the convertible seat in the forward-facing position required raising the head restraint for a good fit, but it installed easily and posed no tether-anchor troubles.
  • Our booster seat also fit well with the head restraint raised and installed easily thanks to stable seat-belt buckles that stick up, making it easy for children to strap themselves in.

What We Don’t

  • Our infant safety seat was simple enough to install, but even a 5-foot-6-inch tester’s knees touched the glovebox.
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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.

Assistant Managing Editor-News
Matt Schmitz

Former Assistant Managing Editor-News Matt Schmitz is a veteran Chicago journalist indulging his curiosity for all things auto while helping to inform car shoppers.

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