3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Fit in a Nissan Rogue?

The Nissan Rogue, which is also known as the Nissan X-Trail overseas, is Nissan’s contribution to the burgeoning small SUV and crossover market in the United States. It’s meant to offer an affordable and stylish alternative to small SUVs like the Jeep PatriotHonda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Subaru Forester, and Ford Escape. The newest generation features a bevy of impressive safety scores, side airbags, ESC, and even rudimentary frontal crash prevention systems in optional trims.

That’s all well and good, but what I was really interested in finding out when I borrowed one was how well the Rogue does as a 3 across car seater. The good news is that many of the usual suspects will still work in the initial generation. The bad news is that the current generation is no longer a 3-car-seat-compatible vehicle. Before getting into that, however, let’s take a look at best practices in car seat arrangements.

Car seat safety starts with rear-facing our little ones; it’s best for their soft spines and disproportionally large heads. I recommend you 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 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). These suggestions may take a bit of extra work, but they provide a lot of extra safety.

Keeping these ideas in mind, I set to work to find which infant, convertible, combination, and booster seats would work best in 3 across combinations in the Nissan Rogue. It’s my goal to make this list the most thorough on the Internet. 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. Vehicle images are courtesy of Wikipedia.

rogue-xtrail-publicdomain2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 Nissan Rogue

Guaranteed 3 across installations: None!

The current generation Nissan Rogue represents an unfortunate step backwards in car seat compatibility, as a reader kindly informed me that Nissan expressly forbids the use of a car seat in the center position in their 2015 Snugkids guide. This is likely to confuse a number of parents since the Rogue owner’s manual itself does not include such restrictions and goes so far as to show a center installed car seat on multiple pages. However, restrictions trump permissions, and on top of that, the Rogue also has significantly overlapping seat belts.

While overlapping seat belts in and of themselves don’t automatically exclude a vehicle from 3 across capabilities (the Highlander has overlapping belts but is still a decent 3 across vehicle, for example), when the belts overlap to a significant degree (as in the current generation Corolla), 3 across becomes an impossibility for safety reasons. I’ve included 2 car seat arrangements that will work easily given the available space in the Rogue, but until Nissan corrects this, the Rogue will remain a 2-across vehicle.

Clek Fllo (x2).

Clek Foonf (x2).

Chicco KeyFit 30 (x2).

Graco Size4Me 65 (x2).

Graco Contender (x2).

Diono Radian / RXT (x2).

Combi Coccoro (x2).

Tips and Tricks:

The current generation of the Nissan Rogue is 183 inches long and 72 inches wide, which means you’ll have a good amount of space for any 2 car seats, though not 3 (see above).

rogue-2008-publicdomain2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Nissan Rogue

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30 (x2).

Diono Radian / RXT (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro, Evenflo Triumph.

Tips and Tricks:

The initial generation of the Nissan Rogue is 183 inches long and 71 inches wide, or 1 inch narrower than the current generation. It’s still a decent size and comparable to what you’d find in small cars or other small SUVs. Use your seat belts for all 3 seats to get the most room out of that back seat area. This generation of the Rogue is actually better than the current generation since this generation, unlike the current, actually permits 3 across installations.

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.