I have a Chicco key fit 30 installed in the center with the belt. It seems to be the only way I can install and my husband and I can still sit comfortably. That car seat may have been the wrong choice for that car. But as baby grows its getting harder for my chicken arms to lift him to the center. I am thinking about purchasing a rear facing convertible car seat.

What do you recommend that would be a goof fit in our FIT???

 

I have a huge carseat in my Fit, but then again no one rides with me and Im really short haha. Just get a smaller carseat.

 

I want to get one but I'm not sure which car seats are small?? Small enough for the Fit!

 

For the short to intermediate term, I'd say work on building arm strength. Its not that much weight to drop to the middle. Beyond which getting a kid into a convertible car seat is a lot harder while its still rear facing.

For the longer term, I'm using an Evenflo Symphony 65 e3. That said, the best thing to do is to go to a babiesrus and spend 20 minutes hauling display seats out to the car and back to try them out. You'll figure out what works best for the way you like your seats.

 

We bought an Altima partially because the civic and fit wouldn't work with a rear facing car seat and my wife and I. (we also got low-balled on trade from honda for our civic coupe and integra).

(we never had a rear facing seat in the FIT but my car seat suggestions are below)
We had keyfit in the ridgeline which we replaced with a Britax marathon. It's a great car-seat/system (the keyfit) and my recommendation is to "tough-it-out" until they are big enough to fit in a front facing (unless you plan on rear facing until they get their driver's license). In the altima we had a britax roundabout which we then upgraded to the graco Nautulus(forward facing) when my son outgrew the britax. however, he was in a forward position before we got the fit.

If you really need to, one of you can sit in the back and push the passenger seat all the way up.

Sorry I don't have a great answer but I'm not sure there will be one with the fit's limited rear space.

Best of luck.

~SB

 

It has been my experience that convertible car seats, rear facing take up more space than the infant ones. It's because they are made for heavier/ taller kids who sit front facing.

You can try putting some of the smaller looking ones from Babies R Us into your Fit and see what's better than the Key Fit 30.

We just had the non-driver sit in the back with the baby, or suffer up front (car seat was installed via LATCH behind the passenger seat).

 

We have 2 rear facing Britax Marathons in the rear using LATCH. They fit and my wife and I (who are not incredibly tall) both sit comfortably without the front seats touching the tops of the Marathons. My kids are little guys, and we're planning on keeping them RF until they max out on height, so it's gonna be awhile!

 

I have the Air car seat made by Safety 1st. My daughter is 2 and a half and it's definitely a tight fit as far as her leg room goes. I have to slide the passenger seat forward so her legs don't get squished as they basically hang straight out from the car seat.

 

I've got the Recaro Pro Fit convertible. I've got the OEM rear car seat covers and the seat staggered to the passenger side and it fits perfect. Had it reversed and it still fit perfect.

 

Passenger seat all the way forward when in the rear facing position?

~SB

 

I'm late to this thread, but my wife and I have the Chicco KeyFit 30 attached via LATCH in the center of our 2012 Fit Sport. It's a rear-facing seat which works in this position because my wife and I are short (5'4" and 5'6", respectively). However, reclining in the passenger seat is now impossible unless we move the KeyFit behind the driver's seat. Still, we prefer our daughter's safety to our comfort (most of the time).

 

Nitpick: LATCH isn't valid for the center rear. Only using the seat belt is correct, unless they've changed something.

 

Put the child up for adoption!

 

My wife and I were told the same thing by friends before we made our purchase. However, it seemed to us that the middle seat was the safest, especially in a roll-over or side-impact collision. In addition to the perceived safety advantage of the middle seat, I found the LATCH attachments and anchors to be universal (unlike the female receiver on the middle seat belt for our Fits which will only take the male bit on the middle seat belt).

So we did some research.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not rule-out the use of the middle seat. Instead, their fact sheet DOT HS 809 488 states "LATCH-equiped vehicles have lower anchors in the right and left rear sear positions. If the center seat doesn't have lower anchors, you can install your child safety seat securely using a seat belt."

Beyond that statement, the NHTSA simply defer to the manufacturer's instructions on placement per DOT HS 809 888 and DOT HS 809 889 (PDFs available here).

Car-Safety.org has some information about using a LATCH seat in the middle seat about half-way down this webpage. They rule-out the middle seat if two child seats are using the same anchor.

Our KeyFit 30 has flexible lower attachments (i.e. straps similar to seat belt straps) which allow for mounting in the middle seat.

Based on all this information my wife and I decided that the middle seat was the best position, provided that the base was fastened as tightly as possible.

More importantly, how do I convince my wife that when it comes time to get one Recaro safety seat for our daughter we need two additional Recaro front seats?

 

i still use the recaro child seats in the 09 GE. in the 12 GE and in my G35C, i use the recaro booster seats.

 

The middle rear seat is the safest place to put the car seat and IME fits the best as well. That said, attaching with LATCH mechanism is not supported, only the seat belt. Read the owner's manual. Just because the latch fits doesn't mean that its allowed.

 

@ Malraux: reading the manual is always a good idea.

The Child Safety section (pages 49-51) of the 2012 Honda Fit owner's manual does not rule-out the use the middle seat with the LATCH attachments.

However, after today's discussion on this topic, I re-read the Chico KeyFit 30's manual and found a note on page 34 stating (the bold lettering occurs in the manual) "This child restraint base is designed to be used with lower LATCH anchors at the standard spacing (11 inches) ONLY! Refer to vehicle owner's manual for information about LATCH and child restrain installation positions."

Now I'll have to go measure the spacing between the LATCH anchors in the middle of my Fit. I promise that I'll report back.

@ Kenchan: would you recommend the Recaro child or booster seats?

 

I would recommend looking at the safest seat you can get. Doing some research, I found the Besafe, Britax, and Jane brands rated highest. Not sure if you can get Besafe in the US but that is what we are going for...rearward facing up to four years old, the safest way for a child to sit....and regardless of what we may think putting them in the middle isn't safest according to manufacturers I have researched.

Experts on child car seats, helmets and bike seats. - Besafe

 

Only the outer two seats have latch. Even if the spacing is correct, the middle seat is not certified to use latch.

 

They are expensive, absurdly heavy, and not trivial to install, but I've done a Diono Radian RXT. They are an excellent car seal, and they have two really important features:

1) They have a normal sized space inside for the kid, but use a metal frame to keep the outer dimensions small, so they are narrow and fit easily into any car.

2) The vertical height between where the child sits and the vehicle seat is really low. I found this really helpful because you don't have to lift the child over a high thigh bolster and 6-8" off the vehicle seal like you do with a lot of other convertible seats. It makes things a lot easier on the back and later on the child can climb in much more easily themselves.