Onboard restraint systems in modern vehicles simply aren’t designed for little ones, and attempts to build in child seats as part of the car have been less than successful. Even child seats aren’t designed for all little ones. They will progress from rear-facing infant to rear-facing and then front-facing (convertible seats configure both ways) and finally booster seats. They don’t grow out of the seats as fast as they do clothes, but it isn’t too far off. For anyone interested in the GLC 4-door Coupe as their next family vehicle, Mercedes-Benz of Plano offers this summary of Cars.com’s child seat test on the AMG® GLC 46 Coupe.
The car seat tests are conducted by Cars.com editors Jennifer Geiger and Jennifer Newman, both of whom are certified child safety seat installation technicians and moms. In all their tests, the front seats are set for a 6-foot driver and a shorter front passenger. They can’t test all child seats, so they chose seats reasonably representative of their respective categories. The seats include:
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Chicco KeyFit 30 infant-safety seat
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Graco Contender 65 convertible seat
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Graco TurboBooster seat
The child seats are always tested in the second row for two-row vehicles. The infant and convertible seats are positioned behind the front passenger, while the booster seat is positioned behind the driver. They also test the convertible seat in forward-facing form in the middle of the second row and check to see if the vehicle can accommodate three child seats simultaneously because this is a need for some families. The accessibility of the child seat latches is also scored. Each test results in a schooltime grade from A to, which are defined as follows:
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.
Their grading of the AMG® GLC 46 Coupe, which presumably applies to all GLC Coupes, is as follows:
Latch: Grade A
“The two sets of lower anchors are under plastic covers and are easy to use. The three top tether anchors on the seatback are clearly marked.”
Infant Seat: Grade C
“This seat was easy to install, but our 5-foot-6-inch front passenger had legroom issues. Her knees were uncomfortably close to the glove box.”
Rear-Facing Convertible: Grade C
“As with the infant seat, the convertible in rear-facing form was easy to install, but the front passenger needed more legroom to be comfortable.”
Forward-Facing Convertible: Grade A
“We had no issues with Latch during the install, and after removing the head restraint, the convertible in forward mode fit well.”
Booster: Grade A
“After raising the head restraint to situate the booster flush against the seatback, it fit well. The GLC’s stable buckles should be easy for kids to use independently.”
Three-child seat accommodation?
“No”
Overall, the installation was easy for all seats. The GLC’s weakness is with the rear-facing seats in which the seatback angles toward the front seatback, and they found they had to move the front passenger seat forward to the point where someone the size of 5’6” may feel less than entirely comfortable. The GLC SUV has nearly the same rear legroom and thus can be expected to have the same results. If the expected passenger seat occupant is a few inches less than five and a half feet, this might not be an issue, and if your children are past the rear-facing seat stage, this should be no issue. Otherwise, the GLE has 3.7 more inches of legroom and thus is likely to work out better with the rear-facing seats.
You are welcome to bring your child seat (s) when you test drive the GLC or any of the other models at Mercedes-Benz of Plano.
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