4 in car seats using the latch system

What do we drive?

A vehicle that can hold 4 car seats using the latch system is harder to come by more than one would think.  We found this out when it came to looking into purchasing a new vehicle for our second sets arrival. Before our first set both my husband and I drove sedans. I love my Toyota Camry and did not want a new car. My husband drove a Honda Accord, he drives a lot for his business so it had some serious high mileage. Now a Honda is a great car and it still had a lot of life left on it. We were planning to both keep our sedans awhile but when my husband got way above KBB value on his car as a trade in we decided we would get a bigger and better vehicle. I was on hospital bed rest when all this went down so was not as involved in the possible as I would have like to be.

My husband got an SUV with 3^rd row seating for 2 reasons he liked the way it looked (limited fully loaded edition) and it was cheaper than a minivan of similar status. The vehicle was purchased about 2 weeks before our first set of twins were born.

After a couple months of hauling twins around we both hated it. We both wished we had got a minivan.

When we found out we were having twins again… we knew we had to get another new vehicle.  We started on research early in the game. I wanted a Toyota Sienna because I love my Camry so much. So the Toyota dealership was the first place we visited. Within seconds of getting in the van and checking it out we knew our family was almost too big for this vehicle.

Where are we going to put all the car seats? How are we going to get everyone in and out?

Then we found out the Sienna can only hold 3 car seats via latch system. Okay yes I know you don’t have to use the latch system. But are oldest will be able to use the latch system for a while because of their weights. We prefer the latch system for its ease.  So this immediately crossed the Sienna off the list for me.

But the Sienna isn’t the only minivan that only has 3 car seat systems… we found this to be the case with a many other minivans on the market.

The van that we found best for us was the Honda Odyssey, you can use 5 car seats with the latch system.  

We purchased the Honda Odyssey as our third vehicle. We use it as the family vehicle so basically when the kids are with us we are in the van. It is nice to have the van stocked as a family car. The diaper bag stays in it and it stacks stocked with snacks, cups, wipes, diapers, and a few toys. This is so much easier than checking to see which car has what. It is also nice to leave this car with whoever is watching our children if they need to go somewhere or in case of emergency they have access to a vehicle that accommodates everyone.

So far we love the Odyssey. We are still having some issues when it comes to stroller storage, since we have two doubles it takes up most of the free storage space in the back. We are still debating a quad stroller, it would open up a lot of free space… and when we take them all places in two doubles… it is hard to have both parents hands tied up with pushing a stroller. Quad strollers however are not very luxurious and on average weight 70lbs by themselves!

 In our Odyssey we removed one of the captain’s seats for easy loading to the third row so that has also opened up enough storage space for groceries and trips to overnights at grandmas to hold sleepers and bouncers etc.  We already know we start going on vacations we will have to drive two cars or tug a Uhal  storage thing behind us!

Here’s how we have the van set up to accommodate four car seats using the latch system.  The middle row can hold 3 car seats via latch, and the back row can hold 2 on each side (not in the middle).

Presley and Noah, 2 years old, our oldest in the middle row, with captain seat removed. They work best in the middle because we have to buckle them in. They just turned two in May. We flipped them facing forward about 3 weeks before their birthday and the recommend age 2 forward facing. For the the first three months of having this van, they were in the middle row rear facing. I never snapped a picture of this but they fit fine with the angle adjuster under them. 

Max and Eli, 3 months old, our youngest, are in infant seats, so we put them in the infant carriers in the house and then bring them to the car so we only have to snap the car seat in the base. We step into the car since the captain seat is removed to place them in the third row. I have read some people snap the infant car seat in through the trunk… but with our strollers in the back this would be much harder for us.  We will probably keep them in infant seats for as long as possible. We didn’t switch our oldest until 16 months, they still meet the weight requirements but were taller than 30 inches so that is why we made the switch. We we switch the youngest set to convertible seats I plan to put them in the middle row and my oldest in the back row. The hope is my oldest will be almost 3 and can bulk themselves (with less help then the youngest). 

And that’s our we seat our 4 children in car seats using the latch system.