The verdict: After a five-year hiatus, the Toyota Venza returns to the automaker’s lineup — albeit totally reimagined. The new 2021 Venza is a two-row hybrid SUV with seats for five. Easy lower Latch anchors made installation easy, but one of our car seats called for a bit more legroom.
Does it fit three car seats? No, but it was close. Narrower car seats might fit.
Take a look at how the Latch system and each car seat scored below in our Car Seat Check of the 2021 Toyota Venza.
Related: Search Car Seat Checks
A Grade
- Latch: The two sets of lower anchors are exposed for easy access and connection.
- Infant: This seat was easy to install and our 5-foot, 8-inch-tall front passenger had ample legroom.
B Grade
- Rear-facing convertible: Installation was easy, but we needed to move the front passenger seat; she needed more legroom to be comfortable.
- Forward-facing convertible: After removing the head restraint, the seat was easy to install and it fit well. There are three top tether anchors on the rear seatbacks; they’re clearly labeled but sit in slits in the seat upholstery, so they require a bit of digging to connect.
- Booster: We did not need to remove the head restraint to get a good fit for the booster. The seat belt buckles are anchored low in the seat, however, which could make them difficult for kids to grasp and use on their own.
C Grade
- None
Grading Scale
A: Plenty of room for the car seat and the child; doesn’t impact driver or front passenger legroom. Easy to find and connect to Latch and tether anchors. No fit issues involving head restraint or seat contouring. Easy access to the third row.
B: One room, fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing the third row when available.
C: Marginal room plus one fit or connection issue. Difficult to access the third row when available.
D: Insufficient room, plus multiple fit or connection issues.
F: Does not fit or is unsafe.
About Cars.com’s Car Seat Checks
Editors Jennifer Geiger, Jennifer Newman and Matt Schmitz are certified child safety seat installation technicians.
For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide Classic Connect 30 infant-safety seat, a Britax Marathon convertible seat and Graco TurboBooster seat. The front seats are adjusted for a 6-foot driver and a shorter passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant and convertible seats are installed behind the front passenger seat.
We also install the forward-facing convertible in the second row’s middle seat with the booster and infant seat in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit; a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. If there’s a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible. Learn more about how we conduct our Car Seat Checks.
Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat, and that Latch anchors have a weight limit of 65 pounds, including the weight of the child and the weight of the seat itself.
Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
Source: Read Full Article