How Do Car Seats Fit in a 2020 Lexus UX?

Editor’s note: This Car Seat Check was written in February 2019 about the 2019 Lexus UX. Little of substance has changed with this year’s model. See what’s new for 2020 or check out a side-by-side comparison of the two model years.

Lexus has taken what works in its popular RX SUV and shrunk it to tiny proportions with the 2019 UX 200. The cute ‘ute is new to the lineup and bigger than it looks, with adult-occupant-friendly levels of headroom and car-seat-friendly levels of rear legroom.

Does it fit three car seats? No

Take a look at how the Latch system and each car seat scored below in our Car Seat Check of the 2019 Lexus UX.

Related: Search Car Seat Checks

A Grade 

• Latch: Two sets sit under flip-off plastic covers; they’re easy to find and use. There are three top tether anchors on the seatback; they’re clearly marked but buried in the carpet, so the forward-facing convertible lost a grade.
• Booster: After raising the head restraint, the booster fit well. The buckles are on short but stable stalks and should pop up enough for kids to grasp and use fairly easily.

B Grade 

• Infant: The seat installed easily, and we only had to move the front seat forward a bit to make enough room for our 5-foot, 6-inch-tall front passenger.
• Rear-facing convertible: Again, this seat was easy to install, and we only needed to move the front passenger seat up a bit.
• Forward-facing convertible: After removing the head restraint, the seat fit well. We had no problems connecting to the lower anchors, but the top tether anchors are buried in the carpet, requiring some digging.

C Grade 

• None

Grading Scale

Solid indicates an A grade for optimum ease of use and fit. So-So indicates B or C grades for one to two ease-of-use or fit issues. Skip It indicates D or F grades.

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: One room, fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing the third row when available.

C: Marginal room plus one fit or connection issue. Difficult to access the third row when available.

D: Insufficient room, plus multiple 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. Learn more about how we conduct our Car Seat Checks.

 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.

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