How Well Do Car Seats Fit in the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid?
Mid-size sedans still fill the bill for many families. Families begin with small children who need their own seats added to the car, and not just one seat does the job. Just as they outgrow clothes, children will outgrow their reverse-facing infant seats to larger front-facing seats and eventually just need a booster so the shoulder restraint lies properly across their bodies. The seats require proper installation and may have to be removed and reinstalled regularly in multi-vehicle households. Fortunately, Cars.com routinely tests how well car seats fit in models, and most recently, they conducted their tests on the Sonata Hybrid, which presumably would apply to the non-hybrid Sonata as well. Dick Smith Hyundai gives you the highlights of their Sonata Hybrid car seat testing.
How the Testing is Done
All of the tests are conducted by Cars.com editors Jennifer Geiger and Jennifer Newman, who are both editors at the site, certified child safety seat installation technicians, and moms.
There are many models of car seats for each of the childhood stages from newborn to early school age, and the two Jennifers don’t endeavor to test them all on each vehicle. Instead, they selected popular seats that adequately represented the norm for each category and used the same seats for each model they tested for consistency of results. The seats are:
- Infant (rear-facing) – Chicco KeyFit 30 infant-safety seat
- Rear and Forward Facing Convertible – Graco Contender 65 convertible seat
- Booster – Graco TurboBooster
The front seats are adjusted for a 6-foot driver and a shorter front passenger. Each seat is installed in the second row, with the booster seat behind the driver’s seat and the infant and convertible seats installed behind the front passenger seat. They will also install both at the same time to see if a third seat will fit in the middle, which was not the case for the Sonata. Needing three child seats is rare but not unheard of. The vehicle’s latch system is judged on its own on how easy they are to locate. Each test is graded from A to F based on the following criteria:
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 (when applicable).
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.
Sonata Did Well But Short of Perfect
The Sonata Hybrid received an A rating for an infant seat and a B for the other seats.
Latch: Grade B – The Latches were the primary reason for the B-grades. Dual sets of lower anchors are under easy-to-find hinged covers, but the anchors themselves are deeply set within the seat, where the seat back and bottom cushions meet. The anchors are easy to access with car seats that have rigid Latch connectors, such as the infant seat, but are more difficult to access with car seats that have skinnier, hooklike connectors, such as the example convertible seat. The set of the anchors makes the Latch connectors even tougher to unhook.
Infant Seat: Grade A —This seat was easy to install since it has long rigid connectors that easily find the deeply set Latch anchors. The Sonata’s generous rear legroom means that a 5-foot-6-inch front passenger has ample legroom in front of the seat.
Rear-Facing Convertible —The deep-set latches meant the testers struggled to connect to the sedan’s anchors with the convertible’s skinny Latch connectors. It was even tougher to remove the car seat because of a lack of finger room to maneuver, and the anchors themselves are deeply set. On the other hand, like the infant seat, the convertible in rear-facing form fit well, and the front passenger had enough legroom in front of it.
Forward-Facing Convertible: Grade B — Situating the convertible flush against the seatback involves raising the rear headrests. As mentioned above, the deeply positioned latches hampered the ease of attaching and disconnecting the seat to the lower anchors. However, connecting to the sedan’s top tether anchor on the rear shelf was no trouble.
Booster Seat: Grade B — After raising the head restraint, the booster fits well. However, the Sonata Hybrid’s short, stubby buckles sink into the seat upholstery, which could make them more difficult for kids to grasp and use independently.
The Sonata Hybrid is powered by a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine combined with a 39 kW electric motor. Total combined horsepower is 192, and the EPA rates its city/highway/combined fuel mileage as 44 / 51 / 47. Even if you don’t plan to use a child seat, the Sonata Hybrid is a welcome addition to any family. Visit Dick Smith Hyundai of Greenville to check out and test drive a Sonata Hybrid for yourself.
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