2012 Ford Edge: Car Seat Check

At 76 inches across, the 2012 Ford Edge is wider than its competitors, the Nissan Murano, Dodge Journey and Toyota Highlander, but not wide enough to fit three child-safety seats across the second row. The Ford crossover carries five passengers and has a new turbocharged EcoBoost four-cylinder engine for 2012. For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide 30 rear-facing infant-safety seat, a Britax Roundabout convertible child-safety seat and Graco high-back TurboBooster seat. The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver's seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are installed behind the passenger seat. We also install the infant seat in the second row's middle seat with the booster and convertible in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit. If there's a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible. Here's how the 2012 Edge did in Cars.com's Car Seat Check: Latch system: The Edge has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats. The anchors are positioned a little too close to each other, meaning we had to shift the car seat around a lot when installing it to get at the anchors. We also had some difficulties getting at the recessed anchors, but reclining the seatbacks makes it easier to find them. There are three tether anchors two-thirds of the way down the seatback. To get at them, you need to pull down on large spring-loaded flaps that serve as a bridge between the cargo area and seatbacks when they're folded down. Booster seat: A seat bolster pushed our high-back booster over the seat belt buckle, which sits low in the bottom seat cushion. To buckle up, kids will need to remember to scoot their booster seats over before sitting down. That's a recipe for grumbling from my kids, but maybe other parents have more patient children. Convertible seat: The forward-facing convertible seat fit well in the second row. Reclining the seatback made it easier to use the Latch anchors with this car seat's rigid connectors. Although the rear seats don't slide forward and back, there was plenty of room in the second row for our rear-facing convertible. Infant-safety seat: This rear-facing car seat also fit well in the Edge. Its traditional Latch connectors worked better with the Edge's anchors than the Britax's rigid connectors. How many car seats fit in the second row? Two Editor's note: For three car seats — infant-safety seat, convertible and booster seats — to fit in a car, our criterion is that a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat. from KickingTires http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/

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