Which SUVs Are Best for Car Seats?
Judging by the seemingly never-ending popularity surge of SUVs, they’re attractive to a variety of different types of families, and automakers are coming up with new ones faster than you can say, “You forgot the diaper bag?!”
Related: 7 Great Used SUVs for Small Families
From full-size to subcompact, SUVs have a lot to offer in terms of comfort, value and space, along with un-minivan-like levels of cool utility. But which ones work best for car seats? While we haven’t tested every SUV on the market, we’ve certainly tested a lot of ’em — and what we’ve learned can be a great place for family-car shoppers to start their search.
Here’s a roundup of top-scoring model-year 2018 and 2019 SUVs sorted by size:
Full-Size SUVs
In the full-size category, backseat room is never an issue, but often times, Latch-anchor accessibility is a problem or the top tether anchors are obscured. To earn a spot on this list, an SUV had to earn A grades across the board, with a B grade only allowed for the booster or third-row-access categories. Under those criteria, the only full-size SUV to prove itself worth its weight in car-seat safety was the Ford Expedition.
Three-Row SUVs
Again, it’s rare to have room issues in a three-row SUV, so we again focused on the accessibility and ease of use of the lower Latch and upper tether anchors. As before, to earn a spot on this list, an SUV had to earn A grades across the board, with a B grade only allowed for the booster or third-row-access categories. The finalists were:
- 2018 Acura MDX
- 2018 Audi Q7
- 2018 GMC Acadia
- 2018 Nissan Pathfinder
- 2018 Toyota 4Runner
- 2019 Volkswagen Atlas
Mid-Size SUVs
As with the larger SUVs above, vehicles in this list had to earn A grades for room, as well as Latch and tether access and use. Again, we allowed a B grade for the booster. Here are the top finishers in the mid-size group:
- 2018 Cadillac XT5
- 2018 Chevrolet Equinox
- 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe
- 2019 Jaguar I-Pace
- 2019 Lexus RX 450h
- 2019 Nissan Murano
Compact SUVs
As SUVs get smaller, backseat space becomes an issue. To earn a spot on this list, a compact SUV had to earn A or B grades for room and ease of connection; a C grade disqualifies it. Here are the best-performing compact SUVs we tested:
- 2019 Acura RDX
- 2019 Hyundai Tucson
- 2019 Infiniti QX50
- 2019 Jeep Cherokee
- 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
- 2019 Nissan Rogue
- 2019 Subaru Forester
- 2019 Toyota RAV4
- 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan
- 2018 Volvo XC60
Subcompact
Subcompact SUVs offer even less space than their compact stablemates, but they often have just enough for a small family. To earn a spot on this list, a subcompact SUV has to earn A or B grades for room and ease of connection; a C grade disqualifies it. The subcompact stars are:
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