How Do Car Seats Fit in a 2022 Subaru Outback?
The verdict: The Subaru Outback is a popular family hauler with a roomy backseat that makes easy work of car-seat installation. For our Car Seat Check, we tested the all-new 2022 Outback Wilderness trim that features a lifted suspension, rugged styling and more capable tires for off-roading fun.
Does it fit three car seats? No.
Take a look at how the Latch system and each car seat scored below in our Car Seat Check of the 2022 Subaru Outback.
Related: Search Car Seat Checks
A Grade
- Infant: This rear-facing car seat takes up a ton of space, but the Outback had just enough rear legroom to accommodate it without having to move the front passenger seat forward. After exposing the Latch anchors, which sit behind a long flap, we were able to easily connect to them.
- Rear-facing convertible: This bulky car seat also fit well and installed easily in the Outback’s backseat.
- Forward-facing convertible: We had no fit or installation issues with the convertible car seat in the forward-facing position. Three top tether anchors sit on the rear seatbacks; they’re clearly labeled, which helps parents use the convertible’s tether strap correctly.
B Grade
- Booster seat: While our high-back booster seat fit well in the rear seat, the seat belt buckles were difficult to grasp because their bases are short, making it difficult for kids to buckle up on their own. For a child sitting behind the driver, that seat belt buckle sits tight against the middle seat’s buckle, creating another potential area of frustration.
- Latch: The Outback has five Latch anchors — two sets in the outboard rear seats and an extra single anchor in the middle seat. This setup allows parents to install a car seat in the middle spots using the Latch anchors, but the middle seat sits a little higher than the outer rear seats and when we tested the Latch setup, our car seat sat at a slight angle rather than sitting flat. We had no trouble using the outboard seats’ lower anchors.
C Grade
- None
Grading Scale
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 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.
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 Chicco KeyFit 30 infant-safety seat, a Graco Contender 65 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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