Infant Child Seat Fit Check Nuna Pipa lite rx with RELX base

Does any one have the Nuna Pipa lite rx with RELX base in their 3rd Gen Tacoma Double Cab?

My wife and I are expecting our first child this October and before I open the boxes (no return after that) I wanted to make sure the car seat is going to fit. I looked all over this site and Reddit but have not found anyone else posting about our specific application. I am hoping someone on here has tried or used this car seat in their Tacoma. I really want to know; A) will it fit? B) does it significantly impact the passenger front seat? My wife an I are average height at 5'11" and 5'5" so we are not worried about moving the passenger seat up a little. I just want to make sure I do not have to max the passenger seat as forward as possible.

 

I have no F'n idea what this even is, sounds like gibberish "Nuna Pipa lite rx with RELX base"

but congrats on the new baby!

 

Hello. I’ve put this setup in my tacoma for my 8 month old twins.

it’s totally doable but it will push the passenger seat up. Depends how much comfort your wife expects I guess. You being 5’11 will be really tight if you’re in the passenger seat. My wife is the same height and she makes it work. We drive the palisade 95% of the time for comfort though.

will this be the primary vehicle being used?

 

are you in Sweden?

 

This is our primary mode of transportation at the moment. My wife is 100% virtual and I ride my motorcycle most of the time so we went down to 1 car for the last 4 years. The Tacoma is paid off so if we need to we can always go back to that two car lifestyle, but my hope was to save some money with only one.

Knowing how small that backseat is I assumed that this was going to be the case. You said you had twins; did you have two of these installed? Have you tried mounting it using the seatbelt method in the center? My plan is to mount it behind the passenger seat but I have heard people mention mounting their seats in the middle. Based on the owners manual for the Tacoma and Nuna, this "can" be done.

 

I am not. I am in the Pacific North West United States.

 

HAHA. Yeah the names on these things are crazy!

 

If your wife is 100% virtual this should not pose a problem at all! Does she live in an apparatus that looks a lot like a flashlight from the 1980's?

All jokes aside, as long as the child seat is facing rearward it will suck. After you can turn it around it will be fine. The Tacoma completely sucks for a rear facing child seat.

 

yes, we had both installed. One behind each of us. I’m 5’9 and it was too tight to be driving like that consistently. If it’s going to be behind the passenger I would say open the boxes and use it like that with your wife in the passenger seat most of the time. I believe once they’re about one depends on size of your baby then you’ll end up getting a different car seat that might fit better. I have not tried the center seat but check on the width to see if it will obstruct the front seats at all. If I get some time maybe I’ll transfer the car seats into my truck and send pics

 

I had to go back and re-read what I wrote and just about died laughing. 100% virtual working not waifu, lol.

This seems to be what the consensus is. It is confirmed above to fit, but at a loss to the front passenger seat. From reading the owners manual and looking at other car seats posted on here it does seem possible to place it in the center with the seat belt only application. This would eliminate the issue with the passenger seat, but I am not sure if it is less stable.

 

If you’re not going to be doing any long drives and keeping it simple and local then the passenger side works. I can’t speak on using only the seatbelt but many people do it that way when the anchor points aren’t available

 

Appreciate all of the info! This has been extremely helpful. Sounds like we are going to open the boxes and install the seat. I might try the center application and compare the two considering how easy this seat looks to install. If I put it in over the next few days I will post some pictures in case anyone else is curious.

 

I had a Nuna behind the passenger seat, wife never had any issues but she is also 5’1”. There is no possible way it would have fit behind me, I’m 6” and already sit fairly upright and forward.

 

I used the center for a while for long trips but its a pain to get them in and out all the time. You can still use the hooks in the center though. Just use the inner most seat anchor from each side. At least that's what I did. Still ran the seatbelt as a backup but its an option. Best of luck.

 

The Nuna hooks don’t work in the middle, they don’t use an adjustable strap, they are hard mounted and flip down and only fit the standard width of the driver and passenger side.

 

I saw in the Tacoma owners manual that there are no lower mounting points in the center seat so I was going to try the seatbelt method listed on page 63.

The Nuna RELX base owners manual shows a way to use the seatbelt to secure the base.

 

Seat belt install will always be stronger/more secure in the event of a collision. Center seat installation is considered the safest as it's away from both doors in the event of a side-impact collision. Once your kid+car seat weight exceeds 65 lbs (at least in Canada), you would have to switch to seatbelt only install anyway. Anchor points are only good up to a specified weight rating (child + seat weight).

 

That is new information to me. I have not looked into any documentation but assumed that the anchor points would be stronger. The center would be an ideal option for me if it does not interfere with the front seats. For my state they are required to use the rear facing seat until two and 40lbs. I will have to do some research but would prefer the safer option.

 

Yes, from my research, seat belts were preferred over anchors. The seat belt method is super easy. Putting the infant seat in the center prevents both driver and passenger seat from sliding back to a comfortable position instead of just the front passenger. I’m 5’8 and wife is around 5’5. My wife usually sat behind me instead of in the front passenger seat, even now (our son is almost 2).

At around a year or so, we switched to the Rava which provides significantly more space than the infant - even more so when he becomes forward facing. The kids grow fast so I wouldn’t get an extra car for the infant seat, especially if you don’t have to drive often.

We have a different car for family duty so I only put the infant seat in the taco when he was transitioning to the Rava. I believe my relx base might be in storage, but if you want I could take some pics of the Nuna seat and base this weekend.

 

And to answer one of your question, I’m almost positive the seat does not have to be maxed out forward.