When you need to haul children around, buying a new car suddenly becomes about much more than what you want in a ride. A big part of the conversation surrounds safety, and an important element of that is how well and how easy cars make it to install a car seat. That's where Cars.com stepped in with its 2021 Car Seat Fit Report Card. After testing 51 different vehicles, the company deemed four vehicles on sale worthy of straights As to make its "Honor Roll" list.
The winners are the 2021 Nissan Sentra, Genesis GV80, Audi SQ8 and the 2022 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid. The site used three different types of car seats to test in each vehicle: infant, convertible and booster. Its experts examined how each seat worked with a car's latch system. A car earned an A grade not only for providing ample room for car seats and children, but for doing so without affecting front legroom for the driver and front passenger. Installation of seats and how easy it is to find the latch are also part of the process.
Each of the four cars nailed straight As across the board for their latch systems and the different types of seats. It's an important part of car ownership for parents, the site found: A whopping 84% of parents described car-seat installation as "frustrating." Even though an example like the Sentra won't fit three car seats across, it still outshone its competitors.
You can check out the full list of vehicles and their letter grades here.
