The Jeep Renegade is a peppy little SUV that recently became the smallest Jeep sold in the US, and one of the smallest crossovers on the market. Designed to replace the Patriot and Compass while slotting in beneath the Cherokee, the Renegade also finds itself competing with a fleet of SUVs in the ever-burgeoning small SUV / crossover market in the US. Among other competitors, it goes head to head with the Kia Sportage, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX-5, Subaru Forester, Ford Escape, Hyundai Tucson, and Mitsubishi Outlander. It’s kind of ridiculous. However, it’s a Jeep, which means it’s going to sell well. It also looks delightfully playful.
As a result, I couldn’t pass up the chance to dig into the Renegade and see if it could haul some of the most precious cargo around: 3 car seats across the back row to hold 3 rambunctious children. Giving it a try gave me bad news and good news. The bad news was, as expected, that it was a rather tight fit getting 3 of anything in that back row. The good news is that there are definitely a few seats that will work. But before going into the ones that did and didn’t work, let’s take a look at some car seat safety 101, in order to help keep your little ones as safe as possible wherever you go.
First of all, when it comes to car seat safety, the best way to do it, per our Swedish brothers and sisters, is to rear-face for as long as we can. This goes for adults too! Rear-face your infants, toddlers, and preschoolers for as long as possible (ideally until 4!), before forward-facing them in harnessed convertible or combination seats (ideally until 6, 7, or 8!). Once they outgrow their harnessed seats, it’s best to keep them restrained in high-back boosters until they’re physically and psychologically ready to use adult seat belt systems (which typically happens between 10 and 12). We want our little ones in the safest positions we know of for as long as possible to give them the greatest advantages in a collision.
With this knowledge, I made it my goal to figure out which infant, convertible, combination, and booster seats would work well together in 3 across combinations in the Jeep Renegade. I believe this list is the most detailed on the Internet, and I plan to add more seats to it over time as I get the chance to vet them. If you find the list helpful when shopping for car seats, you can shop through my Amazon link below.
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 yours truly, the NHTSA, or Wikipedia.
2016, 2017, 2018 Jeep Renegade (BU)
Guaranteed 3 across installations:
Clek Fllo (x3).
Clek Foonf (x3).
Diono Radian RXT (x3).
Diono Radian R120 (x3).
Diono Radian R100 (x3).
Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).
Combi Coccoro (x3).
Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT.
Tips and Tricks:
The current and only generation of the Jeep Renegade is a scant 167 inches long but strangely 71 inches wide, which actually makes it a better vehicle than one would expect at its size for car seat installations. Naturally, you’ll want to use your seat belts instead of LATCH anchors to make the most of your interior space. Remember that seat belts are as safe as LATCH and more space-efficient when installing multiple car seats.
Because of the length of the Renegade, if you want to make the most of your money, I’d strongly recommend Radians due to the minimal amount of space they take up with angle adjusters; your legs and front-row passengers will thank you. If you don’t need to fit 3 across, then you’ll want to check out my guide to space-saving rear-facing convertibles, as there are options that take up less front-to-back space than the Radians at the expense of a bit of width.
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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.