A rear-facing seat takes up a ton of space and it's an issue in most vehicles besides minivans. My wife had a Tahoe before her Odyssey and the rear-facing seat required moving the passenger from seat forward further than desired. That's why the center position works best since it can stick forward between the two front seats.

As mentioned above, there's no reason you HAVE to use LATCH. There's little evidence it's safer IF the carseat is installed correctly with the seatbelt. LATCH is much easier to use and easier to get the seat in properly but that's the end of the advantages. Some folks just aren't smart enough (or care enough) to spend the effort on getting the seatbelt installation proper so that's why the Feds pushed for LATCH.

I've owned a lot of vehicles and IMHO, outside of the minivan, none work well from a comfort standpoint with a rear-facing in any position besides the middle rear.

Just an FYI:

Nissan has a "snug-fit" guide specifically for 05-09 Pathfinders, which lists various manufacturers and their respective fitting results. Its in .pdf, do a Google Search[/img][/list][/code]

socal4x wrote:My $.02:

My daughter is now 2, and we have another on the way...We still are wondering what exactly to do...

According to the CHP (California Highway Patrol) the vehicle has to be SPECIFICALLY designed with the latch system on the center seats for them to be used...In California, this is also a LEGAL issue.

We were told that the outboard seats are therefore the safest.

I have a Recaro Seat in my car, my wife has the Britax. They are very similar. I figured Recaro has a little bit of experience making car seats...

Anyhow, our biggest problem was that a rear facing car seat wont fit very well in the back seat, as the Pathfinder's back seat is too small. We put the seat behind the passenger's and my wife nearly has her knees in the dashboard. Now that my daughter is older, the seat faces forward, and things are okay again.

Now, with another kid on the way, I am actually considering another vehicle besides the Pathy (sad to say). I am 6' and I drive with my seat all the way back, so there is very little room.


Anybody else have space issues with the back seat?

I just bought a 06 pathy and I'm finding out this vehicle is worthless if you have kids. Hell you can't even put your seat back without smashing into the car seat. Had it 4 months and already ready to get rid of it. Should of got a Honda Pilot.

The Pathfinder has a couple of things going in it's favor in a side impact. First off the doors are a decent height from the ground since it's an SUV and second it has a full frame. The vehicle sitting higher off the ground will cause the average sedan to want to go underneath the vehicle. The full frame will help sturdy up the vehicle in a side impact as well. (more so than a Unibody vehicle) Is it possible that a lifted F350 could t-bone you...of course so use your best judgement on where to place your child seats. You may want to also consider the roof airbag coming out on a side hit as well.

redwing wrote:
I just bought a 06 pathy and I'm finding out this vehicle is worthless if you have kids. Hell you can't even put your seat back without smashing into the car seat. Had it 4 months and already ready to get rid of it. Should of got a Honda Pilot.

I have two kids in car seats and don't have a problem. If you have a rear facing seat then putting it in the middle seat of the middle row gives you the most freedom with the front seats. Once the seats are front facing, there shouldn't be a problem.

socal4x wrote: We were told that the outboard seats are therefore the safest.

Four months later.....

Who told you this? From a vehicle impact standpoint, the middle is almost always the safest because it gives you the most room to avoid the impact of another vehicle. If they said this purely because of the ability to use LATCH, than I would call BS on that. Another factor to consider is that the LATCH does have a weight limitation. I don't recall what it is, but I read it in the manual. I assume that this means it's not as strong as the seat belt is and if you look at the design that certainly makes sense. This makes me thing that the belt is actually the safest option.

As far as what to do with two, you should be able to put your forward facing 2 y/o in the third row. That's what we currently do. This leaves the middle 2nd row free for the rear facing seat. The 3rd row is not that hard to reach either since there isn't a ton a room back there.

08 pathy wrote:I used the middle seat as well.I used the latch connections on either side of the left and right seat plus you have the rear seat latch as well. Best thing to do is go to your local fire station and they will set it up for you.

Did your local fire station set this up for you? According to the Owner's manual, your seat is not installed correctly. The LATCH anchors should not be used from the middle seat. There's also a weight limit on them. You may want to check the manual.

I have one in a rear facing seat, one in forward seat, and one booster. Three in a row just doesn't cut it, my boy can't even buckle his seatbelt. If you put rear in middle and front on side, the open seat thats you put up so my son can get in the back is a pain because it rubs the side of the middle seat and doesn't want to fold forward.
Any way sucks...but the best way I've found is rear seat on passenger side,forward seat on driver side, keep middle seat folded down so kid in back seat can try to climb in.... so upset.

redwing wrote:I have one in a rear facing seat, one in forward seat, and one booster. Three in a row just doesn't cut it, my boy can't even buckle his seatbelt. If you put rear in middle and front on side, the open seat thats you put up so my son can get in the back is a pain because it rubs the side of the middle seat and doesn't want to fold forward.
Any way sucks...but the best way I've found is rear seat on passenger side,forward seat on driver side, keep middle seat folded down so kid in back seat can try to climb in.... so upset.

I agree, three in the middle row is just too crowded. When we have had family in town and had to use a booster, I placed it in the third row next to my front facing 2 y/o. This worked well. There was enough width for the booster to fit and access the seat belt easily. I placed the rear facing seat in the middle of the second row. As you mentioned, folding either the driver or passenger side 2nd row seat down for access to the third row will cause it to rub some, but it doesn't rub to badly on the infant seat we're currently using. You might try leaving one of the seats folded forward or folded down in the cargo position so that you don't have to keep messing with it.

We fit 2 kids in seats in the middle row, no problems.

Looking at some of the pics, if there is no Latch attachment in the seat, why is there an attachment for the tops strap in the rear of the seat?

I did some rearranging and found It's way better if you just take out the middle seat all together. Way easier.

glockshooter wrote:We fit 2 kids in seats in the middle row, no problems.

Looking at some of the pics, if there is no Latch attachment in the seat, why is there an attachment for the tops strap in the rear of the seat?

Its for when the car seat is in the forward facing position. The seat belt does a great job anchoring down the bottom of the car seat, but when the seat is forward facing in a severe collision the top can actually rotate down towards the floor! The extra tie-down is there for just that, to keep it from rotating down. Besides, one extra tie down releases the pressure somewhat on the other points.

We have our two kids on the outboard sides of the middle row. Funny thing, we were having the tires rotated a few weeks back, and for whatever reason the guy at the shop thought the wheel lock was in the storage thing under the middle row. He said some other Pathfinder owners had put it there. After trying to get out my two kid's car seats he proclaimed that they were the tightest fitting car seats he had ever came across in his years of dealing with cars (many years). I am actually shocked because my seats are installed the way they are supposed to be! If mine are by far the tightest, then I have to assume that most people do not know that they have their kids incorrectly buckled up!

This is my answer...works great!

I have 3 kids. A 5 year old and 3 year old twins. The oldest is in a booster, and the other two are in front facing seats. We can get by with all 3 sitting across, but it's really tight and I have to help my oldest in middle with putting her seatbelt on.

Now we have to front facing on the driver and passenger side, with the middle seat folded down so the oldest can climb to the 3rd row. Everyone has room, so no more yelling in the back.

When I had a new Yukon rental to drive around in, it was a bit roomier but not by much. Do they have to make the seats so bulky?

redwing wrote:This is my answer...works great!

Way to think outside the box! I'm curious though, why not just fold the 2nd row drivers side seat down for entry into the 3rd row?