2012 Hyundai Tucson: Car Seat Check

(Cars.com)

Good looks both inside and out don't have to break the family budget. The 2012 Hyundai Tucson is a stylish compact crossover that accommodates five passengers in style. Talk about family-friendly — the Tucson has a starting price of $19,970, including an $825 destination charge.

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.

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 2012 Tucson did in Cars.com's Car Seat Check:

(Cars.com)

Latch system: Two sets of lower Latch anchors are found in the Tucson's outboard seats. While they're not visible to the eye, the anchors are easy to find and use because they're right inside the seat bight, where the back and bottom cushions meet. The Tucson's three tether anchors are midway down the second row's seatbacks. There's plenty of clearance around the anchor bar, making them easy to use.

(Cars.com)

Booster seat: The second row's outboard seats are wide, allowing for plenty of room to fit our high-back booster seat. The seat belt buckles are on floppy bases; this design can be difficult for younger kids in boosters to grasp when buckling independently.

(Cars.com)

Convertible seat: Both the forward- and rear-facing convertible fit well in the Tucson.

(Cars.com)

Infant-safety seat: As with the rear-facing convertible, the rear-facing infant-safety seat fit in the Tucson's second row. There was no need to move the front passenger seat forward for either rear-facing car seat.

(Cars.com)

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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