Are you a parent purchasing a car? Check out Cars.com’s 2022 Car Seat Fit Report Card
For prospective parents or those with young children, it can be a complicated process to find the right car that accommodates different child safety seats, as children grow up.
In fact, 58% of parents said child seats influenced their car purchase decisions, and 33% of parents brought child seats to the car dealership to test whether they fit, according to Cars.com.
Cars.com’s 2022 Car Seat Fit Report Card, released Aug.17, could help parents compare car models and find vehicles that cater to their needs.
The company installed three different child seats into 52 vehicles and graded the models mostly from five aspects: the latch system, infant seat, rear-facing convertible, forward-facing convertible and booster seat.
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“A car purchase is huge, and it needs to safely accommodate a variety of car seats,” said Jennifer Geiger, certified child passenger safety technician and news editor at Cars.com. “I have a 12-year-old and she's short, so she just got out of her car seat last year. She started in the infant (seat), and went to the convertible, and then went to the booster, so we're talking 11 years of car seats.”
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The vehicles evaluated range from SUVs and sedans to minivans and EVs, and Geiger said the three child seat models were chosen based on public popularity.
Out of the 52 vehicles, 11 achieved A's across all evaluations: the 2022 Acura RDX, 2022 Audi Q5 Sportback, 2022 Cadillac XT5, 2022 Ford Escape PHEV, 2022 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, 2022 Kia EV6, 2022 Volkswagen ID.4, 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan, 2021 Audi Q5 Sportback, 2021 Ford Escape PHEV and 2021 Volkswagen ID.4.
“For families who are in the market for a car and want to plan ahead, I think this could be a really useful tool for them to see what's out there and that accommodates the car seats (they) need,” Geiger said.