How Do Car Seats Fit in a 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe?

With gas prices having been low for some time, full-size SUVs are once again capturing the eye of many car shoppers. Chevy is looking to turn some heads with its new 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe RST — which adds street cred to its most luxurious trim level.

The Tahoe RST, which stands for “rally sport truck,” is an appearance package that takes the Tahoe and paints the exterior black. It’s got blacked-out trim; a black grille, Chevy logo, mirror caps, beltline moldings and roof rails; and 22-inch black-and-polished wheels. Moms and dads driving this bad boy will stand out in the carpool lane.

Our test vehicle had second-row captain’s chairs, taking the total seating from eight to seven.

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

How many car seats fit in the third row? Two

Related: More Car Seat Checks

Solid

• Infant seat, grade A: This rear-facing car seat installed easily. We needed to move the front passenger seat forward a smidge to keep the infant seat from touching the front seat. This didn’t affect our 5-foot-8-inch passenger’s legroom.
• Rear-facing convertible, grade A: This convertible car seat installed easily and fit well in the captain’s chairs.
• Third-row access, grade A: The captain’s chairs fold easily and tumble forward to create a wide passageway to the third row.

So-So

• Latch, second row, grade B: The lower Latch anchors in the captain’s chairs sit in the open and are easy to use. The tether anchors are harder to find: They’re at the base of the seatbacks and aren’t clearly labeled.
• Forward-facing convertible, second row, grade B: We were able to easily access the lower Latch anchors for the forward convertible’s installation. The captain’s chairs’ head restraints are fixed, and we consulted the owner’s manual for Chevrolet’s recommendation on routing the tether strap around the head restraint. For the Tahoe RST and our Britax convertible with a dual tether strap, we routed the straps around each side of the head restraint. We were able to easily connect to the tether anchor, but its location at the seatback’s base is hard to find.
• Booster seat, second row, grade B: The captain’s chairs recline, making it easy to accommodate high-back booster seats like our test seat. Our booster fit well, but the seat belt buckles are on floppy bases. This can make it difficult for children to buckle up independently.
• Latch, third row, grade B: The third row doesn’t have any lower Latch anchors, but there are three tether anchors at the base of the seatbacks. The anchors sit under a carpeted flap; they’re marked with the Latch symbol, but it’s not spelled out for parents who may be looking for it.
• Forward-facing convertible, third row, grade B: The convertible car seat fit well in the third row. We used a seat belt to install it. The tethers are easy to use if you know where to look — in this case, under a carpeted flap on the seatback.
• Booster seat, third row, grade C: The booster seat fit well in the third row, but we ran into trouble with the seat belt buckles. The middle seat’s belt receptor sat on top of the seat belt buckle for the booster’s seating position. This could cause confusion for young kids trying to buckle up on their own.

Skip It

• None

Grading Scale

Solid indicates an A grade for optimum ease-of-use and fit. So-so indicates B or C grades for one to two ease-of-use or fit issues. Skip it indicates D or F grades.

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 third row when available.

C: Marginal room plus one fit or connection issue. Difficult to access 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.

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