Kia's boxy compact hatchback isn't just for hamsters. Small families will find a lot to like about its wide, flat backseat. The Kia Soul was redesigned for 2014, and exposed Latch anchors, along with surprising amounts of head- and legroom for a compact car, helped this little hatchback earn good grades in our Car Seat Check.
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two
What We Like
- There are two sets of lower Latch anchors in outboard seats. They're exposed and easy to work with.
- There are three tether anchors midway down the seatbacks; they're also easy to use.
- After removing the head restraint — it was pushing the forward-facing convertible too far forward — it was easy to install this car seat, and it had plenty of room.
What We Don't
- The flat seat cushion was nice because it didn't cause our booster to sit at an angle, but the buckles are on floppy bases. Kids will probably have a problem buckling up on their own.
- Both the rear-facing infant-safety seat and rear-facing convertible went in easily, but they needed a bit more room. We had to move the front passenger seat forward to accommodate them. Taller passengers will need more knee room to be comfortable.
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
Editors Jennifer Geiger and Jennifer Newman are certified child safety seat installation technicians.
For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide 30 infant-safety seat, a Britax Roundabout 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.
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