3-Across in a Toyota Camry

On Thanksgiving, we drove up to Los Angeles to spend the day with family. Our 2006 Highlander has over 100,000 miles on it, and we decided to see if we could take advantage of the better gas mileage and lower overall miles on my husband's 2012 Camry for the drive up this year. Since buying the Camry earlier this year, we hadn't tried to put three across in the back seat. Our two older sons had ridden in it multiple times, and we had SB's Graco Nautilus and a booster seat for NJ installed in the car already. In order to fit three across, however, we had to take out the Nautilus and move the two Radians from the Highlander to the Camry.

We were able to make it work by putting SB, who is almost four, front-facing in his five-point-harnessed Radian65, behind the driver; GI, who is 14 months, rear-facing in his Radian R100, in the middle; and NJ, who is six, in a booster seat behind the passenger. While I would have preferred to put NJ in the middle, it would have been next to impossible for him to get in and out easily and to buckle his seatbelt - really, the same problem he had in the Highlander.

SB's Radian65 was installed using the LATCH connectors, GI's Radian R100 was installed using the seatbelt, as there were no LATCH connectors for the middle seat, and NJ, of course, used the seatbelt with his booster.

It worked out well, and so I am pleased to report that, for those of you trying to get three across in the back of a sedan, it is entirely possible in a 2012 Toyota Camry using Diono Radian seats. I don't think it would have been possible with wider seats, such as the Graco Nautilus. It probably would have worked with an infant seat with a base, as well, although we had no reason to try it.

Pictures!

Installed but empty. You can see the black-and-beige Radian front-facing on the driver's side, the dark gray Radian rear-facing in the middle, and the booster on the passenger's side.

And here they are, loaded up and ready to go. SB peeking out from the side of his Radian, GI watching me from his rear-facing Radian, and NJ proudly modeling proper seatbelt use in his booster seat. 

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Also, don't miss my video demonstrating how to properly harness a four-year-old in a five-point harness, the inaugural video of my new YouTube channel. Subscribe now to see future videos, which will typically integrate with a related blog post!