Child Car Seat Frustration in ‘17 Tahoe

[Mothnuts]

How do people do it? I just put our infant carrier in our ‘17 Tahoe in preparation for a new addition to the family and it barely fits behind the seat when it’s set for my wife that’s 5’2”. There’s no way it will fit when the seat is set for me at 6’3”. We have a 2.5 year old that sits on the other side and he doesn’t work behind my seat either. Sorry, just venting as much as anything. I’m thinking it might be time to check out the new Expedition. I already tried the different car seat conversation with the wife, and that didn’t get very far. Just upset and frustrated.

 

[noob]

Recline the seat ever so slightly and it’ll allow the car seat to move rearword. My 2010 has zero issues with car seats and my 2017 has even more room. Though front facing, my huge recaro that can barely fit in my wife’s car fits my escalade just fine

 

[swathdiver]

Take the car seat back and get a smaller one. That's ridiculously over-sized. Even the base we used to use was half that size when our little ones were little. I miss the days of playing hide and seek with my brother and sister in my uncle's '56 Cadillac, while my mom was driving! That thing was huge! I remember laying on the floor in our '72 Ventura with my ear pressed against the driveshaft hump listening to the driveshaft turn. Jumping over the seats was fun and as long we stayed away from Mom and kept reasonably quiet she'd let us alone.

Congratulations on your new child though, your life is about to change again for the better!

 

[drakon543]

ha try having a car seat like that in my 08 civic. my daughter has been in a forward facing child seat for a while now but i still remember that frustration. now my son is due in july so i ger a relive it all over again.

 

[GTNator]

As others have said, I would decline the second row seat back just a little and slide the car seat back so it’s tight against the back of the seat. Then don’t be shy about moving the driver’s seat back snuggly against the car seat. Even if the car seat pushes into the back of the driver’s seat. If anything, it’ll keep it more secure.

The other option is to get rid of that base. You’ll be doing that when you travel anyways. Remember the car’s seat belt is actually more secure than a carseat’s belt (which attaches to a latch). However, latch systems are better at keeping the seat level. And a seat belt is better at keeping the unit attached to the car. This is why when a kid gets over a certain weight, it is no longer recommended that they use the latch system and instead one should use the belts that come with the car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JayceeP]

I have a Nuna which is pretty small and it actually fits better in my 4Runner than the Yukon I rented previously. What we discovered was it fit really well in the middle of the 2nd row because there was more width between the driver and passenger seat. However, directly behind the driver or front passenger absolutely sucked. Can’t believe vehicles this big cannot accommodate a rear facing car seat very well.

 

[chicagofan00]

We’ve had no issues with our kids seats and we have both a forward facing and rear facing seat in the second row captains chairs. Although we are both under 5’9” so maybe that’s why?

Btw, the suggestion to get a different seat doesn’t really work as a lot of the rear facing seats are rather large. Plus, the key fit 30 is very highly rated in crash tests.

 

[swathdiver]

Want to buy a Pontiac Montana? It'll fit seven of those gigantic seats at once!

 

[Tylus]

curious how tall you are?
how much is the upper portion leaned back (front seat)?

I'm 6'3". Wife is 5'4"

We had carseats like that in 2005 Durango, 2008 Expy EL, 2012 Ford Flex, and 2015 Tahoe. Each had way more room than you are showing. The Durango was closest to what you are showing. But once I figured out you could tilt the mid row seat back, it helped immensely in all the rigs.

May also want to move the infant seat to passenger side. The toddler can still cross-over and out the passenger side. But the passenger seat can be set to shortest position to accommodate the infant seat without repeat seat moving. I've never been a fan of having children enter/exit the drivers side. Especially since that's the side away from curb and less protected.

I'm thinking you have a combination of issues.
1. Carseat is massive
2. looks like back portion leaned back a bit

Good luck. The Expy has unique issues as well. The mid row seats are more inclined. Required towel/spacer to get the base leveled.

 

[Mothnuts]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I’m going to mess with this more today. The front seat is set for my 5’2” wife in the picture. We’re going to swap sides with the car seats, as I (6’3”) rarely ride as a passenger. We never use the 3rd row seats anyway, so laying the 2nd row further back isn’t an issue. It looks like in the picture the toddler seat (Britax) could benefit from the seat being reclined more. I played with the recline on the infant seat yesterday, but the base catches below where it would get any benefit. If we move it to the passenger side the infant seat will work fine behind my wife. Idk, Again I’ll play with it more today and let you know. Thanks for the replies!