With its new look, the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee has garnered lots of attention. This perennial family favorite has shed its boxy ways in favor of a sleek design. To remain popular, this redesigned SUV needs to comfortably hold the kids and their child-safety seats in the backseat. While our test found that the backseat can easily accommodate three car seats, we did run into a few problems.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a rear-facing infant-safety seat, a convertible child-safety seat and a high-back booster seat, all made by Graco. The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The child seats are installed in the second row and, if available, third row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are installed behind the passenger seat.

Here’s how the 2011 Grand Cherokee scored in MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check:

Latch system: The Grand Cherokee has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats. Unlike many other anchors, these aren’t buried in the seat cushions, but they are too close together, which makes it difficult to install a car seat because the seat covers the anchors.

I had problems with the tether anchors, too. There are three anchors, positioned midway down the seatbacks. In the Grand Cherokee, the cargo-floor flaps, which bridge the floor gap when the seats are folded flat, cover the tether anchors. To access them, you have to pull the flaps back, but the cargo area’s wheel wells keep them from moving more than a few inches. The back of the flaps have a rough plastic coating that scrapes hands when installing the tether connector.

Booster seat: The reclining rear seats help ensure a good fit for the booster seat. However, the seat belt buckles sit way too low in the bottom seat cushions, which would make it difficult for kids to easily grasp and buckle by themselves.

Convertible child-safety seat: Thanks to ample legroom in the backseat, a rear-facing convertible fits without moving the front passenger seat forward. The forward-facing convertible also fits easily in the Grand Cherokee. I did run into a problem with the head restraints, though. They’re in a fixed position, which doesn’t interfere with car-seat fit, but there’s barely enough room to run the top tether strap under the head restraint. 

Rear-facing infant-safety seat: This fit well, with enough room for the front passenger to move the seat back a few inches for extra legroom.

Do two car seats fit? Yes

Do three car seats fit? Yes. There’s enough space between the car seats that the child sitting in the booster seat can easily get to the seat buckle – if only it weren’t so buried.

With a starting price of $63,900, the 2010 BMW 550i Gran Turismo isn’t
for every family. However, parents who want a high-performance luxury
hatchback that handles child-safety seats well should put the 550i GT on
their car-shopping list.
Depending on the backseat configuration, the 550i GT can accommodate
four or five passengers. With two bucket seats in the second row, our
test car could hold four passengers.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a rear-facing infant-safety seat, a
convertible child-safety seat and a high-back booster seat, all made by
Graco. The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a
6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The child seats are installed in
the second row and, if available, third row. The booster seat sits
behind the driver’s seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are
installed behind the passenger seat.

Here’s how the 2010 550i GT scored in MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check:

Latch system: Because the backseat has only two seating positions, it’s
no surprise that the 550i GT has two sets of lower Latch anchors.
They’re hidden behind a leather flap that’s held in place with Velcro.
The anchors are buried deeply into the seat, but there’s a lot of room
around them, which makes them easy to use. Two tether anchors sit midway
down the second row’s seatbacks. These also have lots of room around the
anchors, making it easy to connect and unconnect the tether anchor.

Booster seat: The booster seat fit well in the second-row bucket seats.
The seats weren’t so heavily bolstered that they interfered with seat
fit, and the power-adjustable rear seats make it a snap to get a good
fit with the booster’s high back.

Convertible child-safety seat: The power-adjustable rear seats were a
big help in getting a good fit for the forward-facing convertible seat.
There was enough room to fit the rear-facing convertible easily without
having to move the front passenger seat forward.

Rear-facing infant-safety seat: I didn’t have any problems installing
this car seat because of the ample legroom and the easy-to-use Latch
anchors.

Do two car seats fit? Yes

Do three car seats fit? No

Not all families want a crossover or minivan; some want the stylish comfort of a full-size sedan. The 2010 Dodge Charger is a five-seater that offers plenty of room in the backseat.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a rear-facing infant-safety seat, a convertible child-safety seat and a high-back booster seat, all made by Graco. The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The child seats are installed in the second row and, if available, third row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are installed behind the passenger seat.

Here’s how the 2010 Charger scored in MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check:

Latch system: Dodge knows this is a large family sedan, so the Charger has three sets of lower Latch anchors, a rarity in our Car Seat Checks. The anchors were easy to see, but the seat cushioning got in the way, making it hard to use them. There are three tether anchors under swivel covers that sit on the shelf behind the head restraints.

Booster seat: The booster fit well in the backseat, and the seat belt buckle is anchored firmly into the bottom seat cushion. The head restraint, which can’t be removed, could be problematic for some high-back booster seats, but it didn’t interfere with the fit of our test booster too much.

Convertible child-safety seat: This car has lots of legroom in the second row. This space was apparent when I installed the rear-facing convertible seat without any problems. There was no need to move the front passenger seat forward. A forward-facing convertible seat fit well.

Rear-facing infant-safety seat: This seat also easily fit in the backseat without having to adjust the front passenger seat.

Do two car seats fit? Yes

Do three car seats fit? Yes, but it was a tight squeeze. I’d recommend seeking out three narrow car seats for an easier fit in the backseat.