2013 Toyota Corolla: Car Seat Check

For 2013, Toyota’s compact sedan gets a new grille and more chrome trim outside. Despite its modest dimensions, the Corolla’s backseat was roomy enough to hold two child-safety seats in comfort. The sedan’s accessible Latch anchor and flat seat bottom cushion made installation a breeze.

How many car seats fit in the second row?

Two

What We Like

• The Latch anchors, which are only a little recessed in the seat bight, are easy to access. They’re not exposed but not buried too deeply either.
• The three tethers on the rear shelf were easy to find and use.
• The seat cushion is flat, and the seat belt buckles are on stable bases — both good news for booster seats.
• The rear-facing convertible had enough room; there was no need to move the front passenger seat forward to accommodate it.

What We Don’t

• There wasn’t a ton of room for the rear-facing infant seat. The front passenger’s seat had to be moved forward and the tester’s knees were resting against the glove box.

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: Plenty of room. One fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing third row.

C: Marginal room. Two fit or connection issues. Difficult to access third row.

D: Insufficient room. Two or more fit or connection issues.

F: Does not fit or is unsafe.

About Cars.com’s Car Seat Checks

Editors Jennifer Geiger and Jennifer Newman are certified child safety seat installation technicians.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide 30 infant-safety seat, a Britax Roundabout convertible seat and Graco TurboBooster seat.  The front seats are adjusted 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 and convertible seats are installed behind the front passenger seat.

We also install the forward-facing 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; 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.

Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat.

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