Tuesday, November 13, 2012

2013 Audi A4: Car Seat Check

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For 2013, the Audi A4 received fresh-looking exterior styling. This luxurious five-seat sedan can make the most mundane of family errands fun with its 211-horsepower, turbocharged four-cylinder. For those looking for an even better time, there's also the performance-oriented S4 with a 333-hp, supercharged V-6 and sport seats. If you prefer cargo volume to horsepower, the 2013 Audi Allroad is a wagon version of the A4.

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.

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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 convertible seat in the second row's middle seat with the booster and infant seat 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 2013 A4 did in Cars.com's Car Seat Check:

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Latch system: There are two sets of lower Latch anchors in the A4's outboard seats, and we love Audi's anchor design. The anchors are easily accessible because they're not buried behind seat cushions. They sit in the open, after removing their hard plastic covers.

Three tethers anchors are found on the rear shelf behind the backseat's head restraints. They're under plastic covers that flip open. I might have used a little too much brute strength when I tried to open the tether anchor cover and pulled it out of the rear shelf. Thankfully, it popped back in place and opened easily when I tried again.

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Booster seat: The booster seat fit well in the A4, thanks to its bolstered seats that held it in place. The seat belt buckles are recessed but stable in the bottom seat cushion. They sit just high enough that our booster didn't slide over the top of the buckle.

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Convertible seat: Both the forward- and rear-facing convertible fit well in the A4. There was tons of room for the rear-facing car seat, and we didn't have to move the front passenger seat forward to get it to fit.

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Infant-safety seat: With this rear-facing car seat, we did have to move the front passenger seat forward quite a bit for it to fit in the second row. However, our tester still had enough legroom to sit comfortably.

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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.

Related
Research the 2013 Audi A4 
More Car Seat Checks 
More Safety News



from KickingTires http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/




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