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Child Safety Seat Installation - 2014 Mazda MAZDA3 S Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited June 2014 in Mazda
imageChild Safety Seat Installation - 2014 Mazda MAZDA3 S Long-Term Road Test

Installing child safety seats is relatively easy in the 2014 Mazda 3. But a lack of rear legroom is a problem.

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Comments

  • grc82grc82 Member Posts: 1

    Its recommended by pretty much every automotive safety institute to keep children rear facing until the age of 2. It lowers their chance of serious injury in a collision by something like 7 times and is actually law to do so in some countries. Knowing this I think you guys should focus on being able to install the seats rear facing and the impact it has on the person sitting in the front when writing all of these blogs instead of how easy it is to find the latch anchors.

  • juwujuwu Member Posts: 15

    does it have a latch point at the bottom of the seat cushion for the third anchor when rear facing? my father-in-law's car didn't have one so i had to loop webbing around the seat frame. to grc82 - i think any c-sized platform will have problems for the front occupants with rear facing child seats.

  • legacygtlegacygt Member Posts: 599

    For those who endlessly complain about the number of SUVs on the road, the proliferation of 3 row CUVs, and the growth of mid-sized sedans to M/L and L sizes, I give you the 3rd picture in this post. Safety seats have grown so large and bulky and state recommendations/laws so prescriptive, it is virtually impossible to raise a family with a reasonably sized car. The rear facing car seat situation can be improved (although not solved) by moving the seat to the center position, but in the Mazda3 you would then probably not have room for the booster next to it. If you have 2 kids under 3 or 3 kids under 10, you're going to find smaller cars just don't work for your family.

  • csubowtiecsubowtie Member Posts: 143

    We found this out the hard way with our WRX. The rear facing seat had to go on the passenger side, leaving no room for anyone in the front passenger. There isn't enough room in the center position to fit in between the two front seats either. Even some midsize sedans don't offer enough room. It's driving us to look at SUV's, and it's not a fun prospect.

  • iamthestigiamthestig Member Posts: 85

    Even larger SUVs have this problem with rear-facing child seats.

    I had a 2008 Pilot when my daughter was in a rear-facing seat. The Pilot had what I consider to be limited 2nd-row legroom because it needed to allow for the third row (I believe the 2nd row could have adjusted back farther if the Pilot was designed without the third row). This meant that even in my 8-passenger SUV, the front seats needed to be moved forward quite a bit in order to fit a rear-facing child seat.

  • juwujuwu Member Posts: 15
    edited June 2014

    minivan or transit/sprinter! i'll definitely be getting one when we have a second kid. we need the room for climbing, surfing, and camping gear. i just wish the transit had higher mpg with a gas engine. the diesel only comes in the extended wheelbase version. our rear facing seat fit in the center position in my volvo 850 but that made it cramped on both sides in the back, especially for breast feeding on the road. so i moved the child seat to behind the front pass. i'm 5'8" and can fit in the front pass seat, but would be more comfortable for 5'6" and under

  • ebeaudoinebeaudoin Member Posts: 509

    My wife and I have a 2-month old who will be rear-facing through 2 years. This is exactly why we bought a 2010 Honda Odyssey LX a week before he was born. I've had our newborn, my wife and I and my parents in the van. We could add my in-laws and still be comfortable enough for around-town driving, all while having room in the trunk for the stroller and associated baby detritus.

    All this talk of car seats has gotten us a little sidetracked from the Mazda at hand, but I agree, seeing these car seat installations in long-term cars is helpful.

  • joner800joner800 Member Posts: 80

    @ebeaudoin said:
    My wife and I have a 2-month old who will be rear-facing through 2 years. This is exactly why we bought a 2010 Honda Odyssey LX a week before he was born. I've had our newborn, my wife and I and my parents in the van. We could add my in-laws and still be comfortable enough for around-town driving, all while having room in the trunk for the stroller and associated baby detritus.

    sounds like you need a CX9.

  • kimalookimaloo Member Posts: 1
    I stumbled upon this post in my search for a rear facing car seat for my 4 month old that will fit in my 2009 Mazda3. I love my car and it's paid for but thanks to the car seat situation, it looks like we will be forced into looking to buy something bigger. As a side note, my baby is currently riding in a Chicco Keyfit 30 which is supposedly one of the smaller infant seats on the market yet we've essentially lost the entire front passenger seat. I'm only 5'5 and I can barely squeeze in... my knees are literally pushed into the dash board. We attempted the positioning it in the middle but the seat is too wide causing both of the front seats to be pushed up. My husband has a Subaru Legacy and it's the same thing with his car.
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