Thursday, December 11, 2014

2015 Ford Mustang: Car Seat Check

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Redesigned for 2015, the Ford Mustang's new look is rooted in its storied history. The Mustang has grown slightly longer and wider with this redesign, but that didn't make much of a difference when it came to installing child-safety seats in it. With seating for two in back, the Mustang isn't for all families, but after our test, we found it really isn't for great for kids in car seats. Rear legroom is at a premium, so even if you can fit your car seat in the backseat, there's not a lot of room for kids to stretch out.

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

More Car Seat Checks

What We Like
  • The Mustang has two sets of lower Latch anchors. They're set 2 inches into the seat bight, which is really deep, but there's a lot of room around the anchors for maneuvering. The two top tether anchors on the rear shelf are easy to use.
  • Both the rear- and forward-facing convertibles installed easily in the Mustang. We didn't have to move the front passenger seat forward to fit the rear convertible. However, the rear seats are steeply sloped and parents may need to use a rolled towel or pool noodle to compensate for the angle when using a rear-facing seat.

What We Don't

  • To fit the rear-facing infant seat, we had to move the front passenger seat all the way forward.
  • The Mustang's rear seats have large bolsters that caused our booster seat to sit at an angle. Also, the rear seats are narrow and our booster sat right up against the seat belt buckle, complicating access. Legroom will likely be a problem for kids in this seat.

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Grading Scale

A: Plenty of room for the car seat and the child; doesn't impact driver or front-passenger legroom. Easy to find and connect to Latch and tether anchors. No fit issues involving head restraint or seat contouring. Easy access to the third row.

B: Plenty of room. One fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing third row when available.

C: Marginal room. Two fit or connection issues. Difficult to access third row when available.

D: Insufficient room. Two or more fit or connection issues.

F: Does not fit or is unsafe.

About Cars.com's Car Seat Checks

Editor Jennifer Newman is a certified child safety seat installation technician. Editor Jennifer Geiger is working on renewing her certification.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide Classic Connect 30 infant-safety seat, a Britax Marathon convertible seat and Graco TurboBooster seat. The front seats are adjusted 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 and convertible seats are installed behind the front passenger seat.

We also install the forward-facing convertible 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; a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. If there's a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible. To learn more about how we conduct our Car Seat Checks, go here.

Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat, and that Latch anchors have a weight limit of 65 pounds, including the weight of the child and the weight of the seat itself.

Cars.com photos by Evan Sears



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1 comment:

  1. I used to think that Ford is just a piece of crap but then I went to this local dealer in Vancouver - British Columbia, where I found that there were freaking hundreds of Ford Mustang cars selling like hotcakes.

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