2013 Hyundai Elantra Coupe: Car Seat Check

The Hyundai Elantra sedan successfully mixes good looks with high mileage, and the automaker has been rewarded with good sales, selling more than 18,000 Elantra vehicles in July 2012. Looking to expand on that success, Hyundai has introduced the Elantra coupe and Elantra GT hatchback for 2013. The coupe and sedan have similar interior dimensions. The coupe has 33.3 inches of rear legroom, and the sedan has 33.1 inches.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide 30 rear-facing infant-safety seat, a Britax Roundabout convertible child-safety seat and Graco high-back TurboBooster seat.

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The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are installed behind the passenger seat. We also install the convertible seat 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. If there’s a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible.

Here’s how the 2013 Elantra coupe did in Cars.com’s Car Seat Check:

Latch system: The five-seat coupe has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats. The anchors aren’t buried deeply in the seat bight, where the back and bottom cushions meet, but they’re somewhat difficult to access because the cushions are firm. Behind the front passenger seat, the inboard Latch anchor sits under the middle position’s seat belt strap, adding yet another step to the installation process. Three tether anchors are found on the rear shelf. They sit under plastic flip-up covers and are easy to access.

Booster seat: Our high-back booster seat fit well in the second row, but the floppy seat belt buckles can be difficult for younger kids to use independently.

Infant-safety seat: There was also plenty of room for this rear-facing child-safety seat. Parents should note that the second row’s middle seat has an armrest, so it’s not a suitable position for a rear-facing child-safety seat; the armrest could fall and hit the child in a crash.

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

Editor’s note: For three car seats — infant-safety seat, convertible and booster seats — to fit in a car, our criterion is that a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat.

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