The Ford Flex is Ford’s retro-SUV-minivan-alternative that’s designed to compete with vehicles like the Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey, Kia Sedona, and Dodge Grand Caravan for hauling entire families without skipping a beat, as well as with other 7-seater SUVs like the Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander. It has a unique, boxy look that adds a touch of style while retaining a lot of practical, family-friendly touches on the inside. I borrowed one this past weekend in order to see how it does when it comes to fitting 3 car seats across in a Ford Flex. The results were encouraging!
However, before looking at the seat combinations, let’s review best practice principles when it comes to car seat safety. For me, that means rear-facing children as long as possible (ideally until 4!), and then forward-facing our kiddos as long as feasible (ideally until 8!), and then placing them in booster seats until they’re capable of using a regular seat belt (which typically happens between 10 and 12). I believe these are the best guidelines for child safety, as they keep our children restrained in the most protective orientations as long as possible with current car seat technology.
That said, if you’re going to use best practices, it helps to know which seats will and won’t work in your Ford Flex, which is why I put this guide together. I dug out all of my favorite car seats, heated up the garage, and after several hours of note-taking have what I believe is the most complete list of 3 across combinations possible in the Ford Flex. If you find the list helpful when shopping for car seats, you can shop through my Amazon link below. I’ll add more seats as I test them over time.
You can access the complete 3 across guide for every vehicle here and the complete list of recommended seats here. The Canadian car seat guide is here. 3 across car seat images are courtesy of Wikipedia.
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Ford Flex
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Graco Contender (x3).
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Britax Boulevard ClickTight, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco TurboBooster.
Britax Boulevard G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco TurboBooster.
Britax Boulevard G4, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco TurboBooster.
Britax Marathon ClickTight, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco TurboBooster.
Britax Marathon G4.1, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco TurboBooster.
Britax Marathon G4, Diono Radian / RXT, Graco TurboBooster.
Evenflo Nurture, Graco Nautilus, Cosco Scenera.
Evenflo Triumph, Graco Nautilus, Cosco Scenera.
Tips and Tricks:
This initial generation of the Ford Flex is 202 inches long and 80 inches wide, which means you’re going to have a rather easy time installing most seats you can think of in 3 across installations, and that you also won’t have much to worry about when it comes to space for front-to-back installations. This, of course, only applies to the 2nd row bench seat in a 7-passenger Flex, as there are only 2 seats in the 3rd row.
The 3rd row also has one set of LATCH anchors along with a top tether anchor, which means you won’t want to install more than one forward-facing seat in the 3rd row if you can help it, since it’s always a good idea to tether while forward-facing.
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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.