Tiguan Scores Exceptionally Well in Child Seat Installation Test

As Volkswagen’s compact crossover, the Tiguan is not only in the most popular vehicle class in the country, but as anyone in the Bud Brown VW sales force can tell you, it is also a class heavily favored by young families. These vehicles are popular for young couples before and soon after they find themselves with impending parenthood. An often overlooked aspect of this stage of life is the necessity of child seats and the need for young parents to be able to install them effectively. 

Perhaps there are many young families at Cars.com because they regularly test to see how well vehicles accommodate various child seats, and recently they looked at the 2023 Tiguan. The child seat tests are conducted by editors Jennifer Geiger and Jennifer Newman, both of whom are certified child safety seat installation technicians. 

As young families quickly find out, there are child seats for different stages of a child’s development, and at a certain point, it may seem that they are going through them as fast as baby clothes. You generally start with a rear-facing infant seat, graduate to a forward-facing seat, and eventually have just a booster seat. Among these are variations, including seats that reconfigure to handle more than one stage, though few families get through the stages with just one seat. And, of course, many families will be in need of more than one at a given time.

The Test

The seats cars.com uses for the Cars.com test are:

• Chicco KeyFit 30 infant-safety seat
• Graco Contender 65 convertible seat
• 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.

The Results

Cars.com grades car seat accommodation on a typical report card letter scale of A – F. for each type of seat. An “A” grade is defined as “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.” Plus, for vehicles where it is applicable, “Easy Access to the third row.” A “B” grade is defined as…. Actually, never mind the B through F definitions, because we are happy to inform you that the 2023 Tiguan scored an “A” on all five child seat categories. Here is what they had to say about how the Tiguan worked with each type:

Latch: The Tiguan has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outer rear seats; they’re easy to access. It also has three top tether anchors on the rear seatbacks that are clearly labeled and easy to find and use.

Infant seat: The roomy backseat easily handled our rear-facing infant seat. The connection was a snap, thanks to the exposed lower Latch anchors.

Rear-facing convertible: The Tiguan made quick work of installing the rear-facing convertible, thanks again to its spacious backseat and exposed lower Latch anchors.

Forward-facing convertible: This seat was also easy to install. We connected quickly to the top tether anchor on the rear seatback, too.

Booster: Our high-back booster seat installed easily, and the Tiguan’s seat belt buckles are fantastic. They’re on stable bases that sit high, making them easy for younger kids

The Tiguan

Though few people will select a vehicle solely on its child seat accommodation, having that peace of mind can help make the decision between them easier, and of course, that is only a small part of what the Tiguan has going for it. To learn more about Tiguan’s charms, first read this, and then come to Bud Brown VW for a test drive.