Which Cars Fit Three Car Seats?

Parents are often searching for the automotive holy grail: a car that's not a minivan and can fit three child-safety seats across the backseat. It's a short list. In the nearly two years that Cars.com editor Kelsey Mays, Cars.com photographer Ian Merritt and I have been installing car seats into test vehicles, we've come across only a handful of cars that can hold three car seats across a backseat.

We recently tested the 2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class and it fit three car seats in it. To be considered a fit, there must be enough room between the booster seat and infant-safety seat for a child's hand to reach the seat belt buckle.

Recall Alert: 2010-2011 Toyota Corolla, 2011 Toyota Sienna

More than 500 2010-11 Toyota Corollas and 2011 Toyota Siennas are being recalled due to the potentially flawed installation of aftermarket navigation, overhead entertainment and Bluetooth systems by Southeast Toyota Distributors, the world’s largest Toyota franchise distributor with 173 dealerships in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

During the installation of aftermarket non-Toyota Bluetooth, overhead entertainment and navigation systems, an installer at the facility was found to not be following instructions. On the 518 affected vehicles, the retention clip for the A-pillar trim may have been damaged, which could allow the trim panel to come loose and potentially injure vehicle occupants in a crash. Southeast Toyota estimates that approximately 25% of the vehicles listed have damaged A-pillar covers.

Southeast Toyota dealers will inspect the A-pillar trim panel and replace it if necessary free of charge. The recall is expected to begin this month. Owners can call Southeast Toyota at 800-301-6859 or NHTSA's vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236 for more info.

Recall Alert: 2011-2012 Toyota Sienna

Toyota is recalling 210,000 2011-12 Sienna minivans because it displays an incorrect vehicle capacity weight label, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The recall affects all Siennas produced since Jan. 4, 2010. After recent testing of a 2011 Toyota Sienna, NHTSA discovered that the minivan failed certain conditions to meet the standards displayed on the capacity weight label. Following the label’s maximum cargo and occupant ratings could lead to overloading, which could possibly cause tire failure, according to NHTSA.

Toyota will send owners corrected labels that can be placed over the old label free of charge. A revised owner’s manual will also be shipped, too.

Toyota hasn’t provided a start date for the recall. Owners can call Toyota at 800-331-4331 or NHTSA's vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236 for more information.

Toyota Recalls 420,000 Cars, SUVs and Minivans

Toyota has issued a voluntary recall to a correct a potential defect with the power steering pump. The recall affects about 283,000 Toyota and 137,000 Lexus vehicles in the U.S, the company says.

In the recall are V-6 models of the following vehicles:

• 2004 Toyota Avalon
• 2004-05 Toyota Camry
• 2004-05 Toyota Highlander
• 2004-05 Toyota Sienna
• 2004-05 Toyota Camry Solara
• 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
• 2004-05 Lexus ES 330 
• 2004-05 Lexus RX 330
• 2006 Lexus RX 400h

No four-cylinder models are involved in the recall, Toyota says.

Vote for the Cars.com's Shoppers' Choice Award

Cars.com's annual popularity award is back. We have found the 10 most popular new-car models that shoppers are not only searching for on Cars.com but are contacting dealers about. These models also receive positive consumer reviews.

This fervent interaction delivers a top 10 that might surprise some enthusiasts, but probably not the people who buy and sell cars.

Voting for this year’s Shoppers' Choice awards will be conducted entirely on Facebook, so go vote, share it with your network and get your favorite car the shiny trophy when it's announced Jan. 10 on the eve of the Detroit auto show.

Shoppers' Choice finalists (in alphabetical order):

• Audi Q5
• Dodge Challenger
• GMC Terrain
• Honda Accord
• Honda Pilot
• Kia Soul
• Ram 1500
• Subaru Outback
• Toyota Highlander
• Toyota Sienna

Chrysler, Dodge, VW Minivans Earn IIHS Top Safety Pick

Chrysler’s pair of near-identical minivans — the 2012 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan — as well as the Chrysler-built but Volkswagen-branded 2012 Routan have been named Top Safety Picks in the minivan category by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The trio join the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna.

To earn the award, a vehicle must earn the top rating of Good in front, side, rear and rollover crash tests. The vehicle also must be equipped with electronic stability control, which is standard on all 2012 vehicles.

The vehicle also must pass the institute’s roof-strength test. To pass, the roof must withstand a force equal to four times the vehicle's weight before it caves in five inches. Ratings for the Town & Country, Grand Caravan and Routan are based on a roof-strength test conducted for the Town & Country alone. The Town & Country can withstand 4.51 times its own weight.

2011 Toyota Sienna: Car Seat Check

This Car Seat Check was originally published in June 2010 on MotherProof.com.

The Toyota Sienna has a new look for the 2011 model year that features a sleeker profile. While many parents will appreciate the redesign, they really want to know how well child-safety seats fit into this family hauler. The Sienna can accommodate seven or eight passengers depending on the seat configuration. Our test car could seat eight.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a rear-facing infant-safety seat, a convertible child-safety seat and a high-back booster seat, all made by Graco.

Toyota's U.S. Production Returns to 100%

Toyota confirmed that production at its North American plants has returned to normal this week. The news comes after nearly five months of slowed production due to limited supplies from the automaker’s Japanese part suppliers. Toyota’s 13 North American plants make the company’s best-sellers in the U.S., including the Camry, RAV4, Corolla, Highlander and Sienna. In all, nearly 70% of the cars Toyota sells in the U.S. are made in North America.

The recovery is ahead of schedule; Toyota originally stated that it didn’t expect to get everything up and running again until November or December at the latest.

The company will now focus on replenishing dealer inventories with overtime and Saturday shifts at some plants. Toyota expects there to be a 15% increase in its supply in the last three months of 2011.

The company also says that construction work on its 14th North American assembly plant, a Corolla factory in Mississippi, is almost complete. Production will begin there in October, employing 2,000 workers. 

Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Chevrolet Make the Least Expensive Vehicles to Insure

Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Chevrolet have the least expensive cars, vans, SUVs and or trucks to insure in 2011, according to Insure.com, an insurance research website.

Insure.com arrived at these rankings through a commissioned study by Quadrant Information Services, which calculated premiums for a 40-year-old male driver. The rates come from a compilation of six major insurance carriers’ premiums in 10 ZIP codes in each state.

According to the study, the least expensive cars to insure are the four- and six-cylinder front-wheel-drive variants of the Toyota Highlander, at $1,154 and $1,183 per year, respectively. (We would categorize the Highlander as more of a car-based crossover/SUV, but food for thought anyways.) The Chrysler Town & Country LX is the least expensive minivan to insure at $1,092 per year and is actually the most affordably priced car to insure, period, for 2011. The Nissan Murano SL is the least expensive SUV, at $1,128 per year, and the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 with a V-8 and two-wheel drive is the least expensive truck to insure, at $1,174 per year.

Cars.com's Ultimate Minivan Shootout

A team of five experts — all parents themselves — and a family of five tested six all-new or significantly redesigned minivans in our latest Shootout. They put the Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Grand Caravan, Honda Odyssey, Nissan Quest, Toyota Sienna and Volkswagen Routan through their paces on the road, with car seats and kids, to see which one was truly the ultimate minivan.

Find out which van won, what you get for your money and how each performed in our mileage challenge.

Cars.com Ultimate Minivan Shootout