Question for those of you with kids?

I was recently blessed with my second little bundle of joy and am in search of a car seat that fits the back seat of my JKUR. All of the ones I've looked at take up a ton of room and leave no room for the front passengers.

What are some of the car seats (rear facing) that are being used out there? Please post pic and name of seat please. Thank you

Well I don't currently have a rear facing car seat in my jeep, but I have 4 boys, and speaking from experience.... Your hunting a unicorn my friend. It's either a safe car seat and doesn't fit or it is not very safe and it only fits slightly better. Good luck though let us know if you do find something

Both of my kids are forward facing now but we had good luck with the Peg Perego seats. I had them on the passenger side and we had to slide the front seat up a little bit, but they fit nicely.

I use the Graco. Had it set behind the drivers seat on our recent Colorado trip. I had to either scoot seat forward a bit or lean it more upright. I'm only 5'9 and it wasn't to bad. We put it on the drivers side so that way the passenger could have access to the boy or lean their seat back for a nap.

Like Kalums said, a car seat that fits perfectly in a Wrangler is a unicorn. We never had two rear facing at the same time in the Jeep so we just always had to have the front passenger seat pushed forward a bit. Once you get to boosters and forward facing it's much better.

We don't have kids but we picked up my wife's nieces and nephew one evening. The youngest was in a rear facing car seat. I don't know what brand it was but we put it in the middle and even that was a pain in the ass. I'm 6 foot 5 inches and have to have the seat all the way back and all the way down. I still get cramped up. With the car seat there, I was using it as an arm rest. Lol.

Thank you all for the info. So far it has been trial and error for us. We are still searching. I think we are going to find something easy to install and will work forward facing with no problems. We will just have to deal with the rear facing till he grows up a bit.

In 2010, I had my youngest in a Britax Marathon, behind the driver's seat in my JKU. I think I recall needing some kind of wedge under the car seat.

My two boys are in forward facing seats, I had the rear facing in my 4 door Silverado:-/

I use and recommend Britax seats

Recaro seat is what I used on my infant to 2 years the new design looks smaller. Britax is the only alternative I would use as there safety is the same as Recaro. Safety was my top priority.

Having a 15 month old I've been dealing with the car seat issue myself recently and have done quite a bit of research into this especially because I'm 6'3" so front seat space is obviously an important factor! Initially not even figuring that space was a factor I looked solely into safety and we went with this model from Britax:

https://www.amazon.com/Britax-B-Agi...ents=p_89:Britax+USA,p_n_age_range:2364747011

Super safe, great reviews and test results, you can buy multiple bases so the same car seat can be taken from one vehicle to another etc. etc. At the end of the day though once installed I was squished up on the steering wheel, so the car seat always was positioned behind the passenger seat. My son loved this seat up until he got about 1 year old then for some reason he just hated being in it plus he figured out how to unclip the harness where is clips together across his chest. All in all it was a great seat for a newborn but once your baby starts getting in the 10+ month range and has picked up some weight hauling a 20lb baby strapped into a +/- 35 lb car seat in an out is not going to be an easy feat for your wife (and possibly you) especially if your Jeep is lifted.

At 14 months my son exceeded the maximum height of the above car seat so I had to replace it and started looking for other models that I could use rear facing (which I want to keep him in as long as possible for safety) and after a lot of research I ended up picking up one of these in June for my wife’s car:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MQRAAK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8

Again super safe, has a solid steel frame construction, exceeded all crash safety tests etc. Having a steel frame the thing literally weighs a ton so you are not going to be taking it out of one car putting it in another. So if you have multiple vehicles, plan on getting multiple seats. As it is a convertible seat though, it will literally stay with you as your child grows and not have to be replaced after 15 months or so when they exceed 31" in height. So it can be used as rear facing, front facing and as a booster and the seat has a 10 year life. So it's a buy it once and it will last your little ones entire childhood type seat. Super comfortable, has memory foam padding and my little guy loves being in it! Installed rear facing I use their optional Angle Adjuster which cost about $9 and it frees up even more room to recline the front seat. I can fit with the seat installed behind the driver seat but usually keep him behind the passenger seat so that I can see him. Another beauty of this seat is that they are very narrow compared to other seats, so it is possible to install 3 of them across the back seat, or you can do 2x next to each other and still get a passenger in the rear too!

Knowing what I know now I would have skipped the Britax car seat/stroller combo that he out grew at 15 months and just bought the Diono seat and a separate stroller. It would have save money in the long term! I actually liked the Radian RXT so much that a few weeks ago I just picked up a different model from Diono for use in my truck and Jeep which is this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ISS2S8I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's almost the same as the Radian RXT but just minus the adjustable height head support wings which can be a little uncomfortable for taller children and is more critical for infants lacking neck strength (so I'd go with the Radian for a new born). As an added plus it matches my jeep lol and the little guy loves the bright color, cup holder and memory foam padding! Hope the above info helps a little in your search!


On a side note I posted some Amazon links and I apologize if it violates any rules but I'm doing it simply to point to specific models as there are so many different seats available from each brand and I wanted to be specific.

The rear facing bit is a PITA and always put the passenger seat far forward in all of our vehicles.

I have a 2.5 year old

We use a Diono Rainer in our JKU and a Clek Foonf in the wifes SUV. I have likes and dislikes for both and would be tough just to choose one.

Neither are cheap but they are at the top of seat builds.

Chico Keyfit 30 for rear facing. Didn't try one in the JKU though. Might fit in the middle. They have a base that stays in the car and the seat pops out.

Then when the little bugger is 2, get a recaro convertible, then finally a recaro forward/booster when they're 4.

I've had 8 recaro seats and recommend them (had to outfit grandparent's and 2 cars). I had a pair of the britax convertibles and didn't like them as much. Hot materials and the straps were really really short. They went to my parent's. Now we're all rocking 3 pairs of recaro seats.

when my daughter was a baby, we gave up some front seat space.
in March this yr i installed the rear seat blocks to lean it back and we were able to fit my nephew's rear facing without have to slide the seats forward, just had to adjust the recline but not so much it was uncomfortable.
i don't remember what brand but i was surprised it fit without sliding the frt seats.

zimm said:

Chico Keyfit 30 for rear facing. Didn't try one in the JKU though. Might fit in the middle. They have a base that stays in the car and the seat pops out.

Then when the little bugger is 2, get a recaro convertible, then finally a recaro forward/booster when they're 4.

I've had 8 recaro seats and recommend them (had to outfit grandparent's and 2 cars). I had a pair of the britax convertibles and didn't like them as much. Hot materials and the straps were really really short. They went to my parent's. Now we're all rocking 3 pairs of recaro seats.

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We run the same set up. Key fit 30 behind the driver, recaro behind the passenger. Works out great.

We've got the evenflo in the passenger rear of the jku. Still plenty of room for about 1.5 rear seat passengers. I haven't really piled people in the rear with my son because I dont have friends lol.

Had the Keyfit 30 and really liked it. Now we have this Britax one since he's a bit older. Both fit in the middle just fine and both seats can go all the way back. If it's behind a seat, you can't go all the way back. Not a big deal when wife is short.

If you find a couple car seats you like, you can go to Babies R Us and they will let you test fit car seats before you purchase.

Chico nextfit in my jk for my 15 month old son and it's a tight fit. It does fit fine behind the passenger seat but with me being 6'3" it doesn't fit behind me on the driver's side.