Father of two twin kids at 3.5 years. Its not hard at all. They climb in themselves, and if u have a seat with adjustable iso-fix bars you get enough room for the front seats.
How do larger rear facing seats even fit in smaller European cars? Is your front passenger seat folded all the way down?
When we were last car shopping, we looked at small SUVs (CRV, Rav4, Forester) and a rear facing seat mounted "American-style" still intruded on the passenger seat. I can't imagine how you could shift the seat forwards in a sedan and make it work.
We bought our car seats from Volvo in Sweden because they are designed differently than what is available on the US market, in particular and as mentioned in the article there is a metal bar that rests on the ground to support the seat. It makes a huge difference in improving the angle of the seat and saving space for the sake of the front passenger seat (as well as improving accessibility to install the child, or let her climb in when she grows older/stronger). You can see that in the sled-test photos included in the article (US row vs Swedish row); you can also see that the Swedish car seats provide a much better side-envelope of protection for the children.
It likely depends on the size of the child, the type of seat and the type of car (how much space you can leave begind the seat as the child grows longer). With my second I got a better seat that probably added another 10cm.
Steltek|7 years ago
When we were last car shopping, we looked at small SUVs (CRV, Rav4, Forester) and a rear facing seat mounted "American-style" still intruded on the passenger seat. I can't imagine how you could shift the seat forwards in a sedan and make it work.
mkempe|7 years ago
alkonaut|8 years ago