Diono - Radian®

Background: We have a minivan and a second car on its last leg, mazda 3. We have 3 kids, one in a forward facing and two in boosters. We want to find a mid size car that will fit everyone plus some cargo space for a hockey bag. Every newer car we look at we can't seem to get the car seat in the middle seat. The issue is the distance between the center seat belt bases. On my mazda is 14" between them so we can get a forward facing car seat buckled and the other two kids in booster seats can still buckle thier seat belts. The Kia Ev6 and the new Ionic 5 only have 9" between them. Nobody's ass can fit in that. Combines this with the new seat belt bases are rigid with no flexibility. First image is the mazda 3 center seat. Second image is all new cars, it seems. Question: if you have 3 kids with car seats, what second row car fits 3 across?

It works in the mazda3 since the center seat belts are 14" apart and the seat belt bases are flexible. New cars seem to have very skinny widths, 8" between belts and the bases are rigid so the car seat covers the seat belt bases part. The Dino is still 14"wide. Thanks

Thanks. All the cars we looked at are at least 51" at the hips. The issue is the location of the seat belt bases plus on newer cars the seat belt base is rigid and not flexible. Literally the seat belt bases were only 9" apart on the center seat. No car seat would fit between that.

I’ll second this! I had three Diono seats in the back row of a Subaru outback for a few years. It worked rather well!

I have 3 of these across the back of my 2015 Outback. They are a little tight to go in but sit perfectly once in place.

We had 3 Diono Radian car seats fitting in the backseat of a Subaru crosstrek. What’s tricky is when you need some to be rear facing because they lean back far. For that situation they sell a piece of foam that slides under the seat to safely adjust the angle.

We bought a Diono Radian with a backpack travel bag. It folds up and is relatively portable. It’s definitely not lightweight or cheap, but it’s substantial enough to feel safe and we use it in our second car as an every day car seat. There’s cheaper and lighter options, but we’re semi regular travelers so having something solid and comfortable for the kid is worth the extra money and weight. The car seat is a lifesaver on the plane. It’s not explicitly required but strapping her into a familiar seat makes the experience way less stressful. There’s no chance she’d sit still without it.

I believe the Diono Radian is narrow enough to fit three across in most cars. We used to do it in the middle of a Honda civic hatch with a booster on one side.

Yeah, we ran a Radian in the middle with a Civic hatch and it had room for a booster next to it.

We have a Chicco and a Diono radian and I think the diono is much easier unless you’re installing it RF because the extra strap (required in US) is hard. Now my 4.5 is FF it’s the easiest seat all around.

The Diono radians are great for fitting 3 across in mid size cars. We had a lot of them, but I don’t think we ever used 3 across since at least one of my kids was in a booster at the time. We have 2 cars that can fit all three kids in one row: a 2023 Wrangler that and a 2016 Youkon XL (it has a middle bench, which is nicer if you want the extra seat). The Diono Radians also fit in the back seats of a 996 generation Porsche, but it only has 2 seats back there… my oldest can go in the front seat now in a pinch though so it can still get all the kids if that’s the only car I have available, as long as they don’t have a lot of stuff.

Agree nuna rava is super easy BUT It’s $$$ and def not a grandma spare type car seat. Diono radian is front facing 5pt harness and I find it easy to install, have it in my husbands car and often have to take it out when we are driving other adults. Chico kid fit high back booster very easy to install. Just attach to latches and pull tight at the front. FWIW I bought a Graco transitions as an extra for grandparents and anytime they take it out and reinstall themselves it’s insanely loose and not right at all. It takes a lot of effort on my part to get it tight enough.

This was a few years ago when buy buy baby was still a physical store and I walked in asking this question and the employee in the car seat area said “this is literally your only option: 2x Chico key fit for twins and diono radian for toddler then upgrade to diono radian for twins once they size out of baby car seat” The key fit had adapters which we could attach to our uppababby vista stroller but to fold it up and fit in the trunk we had to take it all apart every time. We did it and it was fine if annoying. These fit three across in a CRV but we very quickly upgraded to Honda odyssey