In the video review, the leg room measurement was taken from the edge of the seat to the glove box. Maybe that has something to do with it. My advice is to test out the vehicles yourself. We were looking at the Pilot too, which is more spacious, but turned out when we were testing it out, somehow getting in & out of the vehicle felt quite difficult for us (5'6"). HL 3rd row is tight but OK for our height. But you should really check it out yourself & moving seats around to get a good feel.

 

I have a large car seat installed, the graco 4ever all-in-one convertible car seat, and there is plenty of room in the front. I don't have specs for you but I can bust out the tape later and post up a pic if you'd like.

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This is how mine is set up. Nothing moved. CHP car seat inspection told me to leave at least 1" space between the back of the front passenger seat and the back of the car seat.

I am 5' 11" for reference

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Jitesh.bhakta: Thanks!

 

I wouldn't trust that video, I would trust the manufacturer posted interior dimensions on the vehicle as you've posted. The HL has tons of front and middle row leg room. We have the rear facing child seat and it looks like the pics posted above there's no issues. A friend of mine just tested the Pilot vs the HL and he brought the rear facing seat to the dealers. He mentioned the Pilot had LESS front leg room with the child seat installed than the HL. I've posted this elsewhere but to me one of the biggest strengths of the HL is passenger and cargo volume along with interior storage space. They've accomplished all this with a "just right" size exterior. The Sorrento interior volume is smaller. Saw one the other day and the rear facing seat was totally jammed against the front driver's seat. If you have the time just take the seat with you when you are shopping and check it out for yourself.

 

We have a Britax Advocate in our '13 Highlander for the ferrying the granddaughter around. When it was in rear-facing position, it barely cleared the front passenger seatback, just like in Jitesh.bhakta's photo. We are 5'11" and 6'1" tall. It wasn't a problem; we just did not let the front passenger seat recline too much nor be pushed back all the way. There was always plenty of legroom for the front passenger.

It might be worth the time and effort to take the car seat to the various dealerships and install it, to make your own assessment.

 

I have same setup as Jitesh. our child is in the second recline position, so not fully reclined. But, still have plenty of room up front, about a foot (sorry, it was really sunny out and I kept getting a glare if I took a picture if the tape measure from farther out)

 

I noticed both of you who posted pictures have it on the passenger side. Is this just for purposes of being behind the shorter of the two front seat occupants? The only reason I ask is we will be utilizing the third row pretty often (at least half of it) and figured if we had the passenger side third row (both the passenger and middle seat basically) up it'd be easier to get back there through the passenger side.

Just wondering if there is a method to the madness. We have a 13yr old and almost 10 year old and are having another (and last lol) kid in September. Trying to work out the logistics of seating arrangements as best as we can.

Any insight would be awesome!

 

I noticed both of you who posted pictures have it on the passenger side. Is this just for purposes of being behind the shorter of the two front seat occupants? The only reason I ask is we will be utilizing the third row pretty often (at least half of it) and figured if we had the passenger side third row (both the passenger and middle seat basically) up it'd be easier to get back there through the passenger side.

Any insight would be awesome!

In theory, the safest spot for a child in a car seat is in the middle, but since I opted for SE, I don't have a middle seat... We went with passenger side so that it would be easier to unload or child if we're parked in the street (i.e. along the sidewalk side). Another thing was that it was easier for us to see but and rock our baby is needed in that position. Hope that helps! Congrats on the baby, btw!

 

In your situation I would put the baby seat behind the driver, but I haven't used our 3rd row much. To be honest it's tight getting back into the 3rd row unless you have the captains chairs. I'm assuming with the captains' the access through the middle would be easier. If you will use the 3rd row a lot you may want to look at a bigger vehicle or at least have your kids with you to test out the HLs 3rd row at the dealer.

 

I'm assuming with the captains' the access through the middle would be easier.

True, passage through the middle is real easy with the captain's chairs. We're able to leave the car seat as is and just go through the middle using the driver's side back door when we have passengers; full sized adults fit through the middle without much trouble. Comfort in the backseat for said adults, however, not so great haha but it does the trick when we need it to!

 

Our are in Diono Radian RXT's. (Narrowest and will take them from RF to FF to booster without having to buy another car seat).


I found the Diono angle adjuster made a big difference as well
https://www.amazon.com/Diono-60320-Radian-Angle-Adjuster/dp/B006I1QTYQ