Multiple Car Seats in a Small Car

Sunshine radian(65 for forward and 80 is rear)car seats are very narrow and amazingly you can fit 3 of the in the row in the small car. They also have tested one of the safest for side impact protection, which is important for small cars.:)
http://sunshinekidsbaby.comfortfirst.com/

we opted for the car seats that didnt have the bars across the front they fit alot better that way. and the 5 point harness is safer... hope this helps! i know how hard it is to cram kids in a car lol

I have not personally used it, but I know Britax makes the Diplomat that is made for small cars.

Good luck! I don't think there are any seats small enough to do three across unless you are doing boosters and they are too young for that. Might be mini van time! I know someone mentioned earlier to put one in the front seat with the airbag turned off and that is against the law. You have to be at least 12 to ride in the front. Only exception is a truck that does not have a back seat. If it is for a trip, why don't you think of renting a minivan?

A.:

This is too funny. We actually own a Ford Contour, which is one grade up from a Focus and we have two booster seats and a regular car seat in the back seat. The car seat is in the middle with our son and the two booster seats flank each side. The booster seats have arm rests which can be lifted so that makes for some extra space, but they are albe to put them down. It's a tight squeeze and we all look like a bunch if sardines once we're all in there, but HEY! at least we fit.

I had to take my nephew in my car once because his momma;s back was out... I drive an Nissan X-terra.....I had a britax regent, graco safe seat infant carrier and a britax marathon STUFFED into my back seat. They were so tight that the door had to be slammed. Scared me to death because the thought of a side impact crash could have been deadly. Thankfully we only had to do that for a few short trips around town, but never again will I do it. I was very uncomfortable. I don't know if there is enough room for three seats in your sitters car, but definitely try out as many as you need to see if any will work. I'm sorry if this wasn't very helpful, I just thought I would give you my experience.
Good luck,
T.

I don't own a Ford Focus, but I drove one as a rental car a few months ago, and they are so small. My daughter's toddler seat seemed to take up a good portion of the back seat. I honestly don't think it would be possible to fit three car seats in the backseat SAFELY.

I have an old Ford Escort wagon which is pretty small and comparable in size to the Focus, I think. I have been able to fit three car seats in there though as long as the one in the middle was facing backwards. That was with two forward-facing carseats on either side, and a convertible one in the middle--all Graco. I don't know if I could have done the base and infant seat in the middle, but it would be worth it to try it out. Do you or the babysitter still have an infant seat? If so, get all the carseats together and see if it works. If not, try out a Graco ComfortSport Convertible carseat in the middle. It can be used rear-facing for babies 5-30 lbs, so if it fits, it would work for you baby until he's at least a year old. Good luck!

Go to Babies R Us and try out the car seats. They wioll usually let you try them out in your car. Try to put the infant seat in the middle if you can. It is the safest spot.

I was speaking with my sister about this just the other day. She has two boosters and a baby seat. She was able to take one armrest off of each of the boosters to accomodate the space. Hope this helps.

B. A.

i also have a focus, LOVE IT put infant in middle of back seat, toddlers on each side. i am grandma to 2, one 5 years and the other 9 months they and mom live with me and my car is the only one we have right now hope this helps is your focus as good on gas as mine? 30 around town 40+ on freeway

UGH! I recall when my dtr was born (3rd child) my boys were 1.5 and 3.5 yrs old and we tried squeezing all of them into our Jeep Cherokee. The infant seat we had was smallest at that time (narrow base), but even though the base fit okay between two toddler seats, trying to squeeze the actual seat into the middle and snap it in was almost impossible. And like someone else mentioned, the back doors had to be shut hard and my 1 yr old cried! We managed to put the two bigger seats side-by-side, but then the boys started pinching and biting each other! We ended up trading in for a used minivan...

But does her Focus have a passenger airbag shutoff? One of the toddlers could go up front as long as the bag is shut off. A pain to move later for an adult to ride, if the car seat stays in her car, though.

Maybe with the way gas prices are, and just the daunting task of taking two toddlers and an infant ANYWHERE will be enough to get her to mostly stay at the house! We only had the one car when my 3rd came along, and since my hubby only worked 5 miles away, I would either just stay home with no car all day, and wait to go grocery shopping (by myself!) once he got home, or if I HAD to have the car, we could take him back to work after he came home for lunch.

It is hard to manage with little kids and no car, or in her case, not really WANTING to go any place with three little ones, but it will pass soon enough, and now I desperately miss those times! Mine are 12, 10, and 8.5 now, and although no more car seats, lots more fighting and obnoxious behaviors to keep me from taking them into public together! HA! :D

Best wishes for a healthy child and hope you get the situation resolved!
A.