The Nissan Murano is the smaller of two mid-sized crossovers currently sold by Nissan in the US (the other being the larger 3-row-capable Pathfinder). The Murano competes with a bevy of mid-sized 2-row non-luxury SUVs available today, including the Ford Edge, Dodge Journey, Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, Jeep Cherokee, and Jeep Grand Cherokee. In the Nissan crossover / SUV family, it slots in above the smaller Nissan Rogue.

Like most of the competition, the latest Murano is outfitted with a range of modern safety features, including good small overlap and moderate overlap crash scores, good side and roof scores, and front crash prevention systems in optional trim levels. In other words, it’s a safe, family-capable SUV frequently chosen by parents interested in safe transportation for their children. But how does it do when it comes to providing room for 3 car seats of varying sizes across the back row? That’s what I set to find out.

Before looking at which car seats did and didn’t fit in the Murano in 3 across setups, it’s worth reviewing a bit of car safety, in terms of which kinds of seats to use and when.

Car seat safety starts with rear-facing. It’s the safest position we know of, and the longer our kids rear-face, the safer they’ll be, regardless of what kind of vehicle they travel in. I recommend keeping children in rear-facing infant or convertible seats as long as possible (ideally until 4!), then keeping them harnessed in forward-facing seats for several years more (ideally until 8!), and then only switching them out of booster seats when they pass the 5 step test (which typically happens between 10 and 12). The goal is to keep kids in the safest kinds of seats for as long as possible to increase their odds of surviving serious car crashes.

With that all in mind, I got to work with my seats to create what I believe to be the most detailed 3 across guide for the Nissan Murano on the Internet, covering every model year of the SUV so far. 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 taken by yours truly or are courtesy of Wikipedia.

The current generation of the Nissan Murano is 192 inches long and 75 inches wide, making it both the longest and widest version of the Murano yet inside and out. As a result, it’s also the most car seat friendly version of the Murano, and 3 across setups with most normally-sized seats shouldn’t be an issue as long as you’re willing to use seat belts instead of the LATCH system. Remember that seat belts are as safe as LATCH, and in some cases, safer, depending on the weight limits of your car seats.

Given the length of the Murano, I wouldn’t expect you to have much trouble with fitting most seats in rear-facing configurations in terms of front-to-back space, but if you’re concerned about making things work, you can also check out my front-to-back comparison chart for rear-facing convertibles.

2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Nissan Murano (Z51)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian RXT (x3).

Diono Radian R120 (x3).

Diono Radian R100 (x3).

Graco Size4Me 65 (x3).

Graco Contender (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30, Diono Radian / RXT, Chicco KeyFit 30.

The 2009-2014 generation of the Nissan Murano is 189-190 inches long, depending on whether you purchased it before 2011 or after 2010 and 74 inches wide across all years of the generation. In other words, it’s quite close in size to the succeeding generation, although an inch narrower and a few inches shorter.

What this means is that you’ll still be able to fit a wide range of normal-sized car seats in it without much trouble as long as you use your seat belts. You can use LATCH if you’re aiming for just 2 across configurations, and it will work with a few, but not all 3 across combinations, especially if you’re trying to make things work with wider seats.

Given the length of the Murano, I wouldn’t expect you to have much trouble with fitting most seats in rear-facing configurations in terms of front-to-back space, but if you’re concerned about making things work, you can also check out my front-to-back comparison chart for rear-facing convertibles.

2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Nissan Murano (Z50)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian RXT (x3).

Diono Radian R120 (x3).

Diono Radian R100 (x3).

Graco Size4Me 65 (x3).

Graco Contender (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30, Diono Radian / RXT, Chicco KeyFit 30.

The 2003-2007 initial generation of the Nissan Murano is 188 inches long and 74 inches wide across all years of the generation. In other words, it’s quite close in size to the succeeding generation, although a few inches shorter.

What this means is that you’ll still be able to fit a wide range of normal-sized car seats in it without much trouble as long as you use your seat belts. You can use LATCH if you’re aiming for just 2 across configurations, and it will work with a few, but not all 3 across combinations, especially if you’re trying to make things work with wider seats.

Given the length of the Murano, I wouldn’t expect you to have much trouble with fitting most seats in rear-facing configurations in terms of front-to-back space, but if you’re concerned about making things work, you can also check out my front-to-back comparison chart for rear-facing convertibles.

—

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.