Rear-Facing Car Seat in 2009-2015 Access Cab

Disclaimers: 1) Do what is safe for you and your family, regardless of what some stranger on the internet says. 2) Car seat laws vary by state, make sure you know and follow yours.

This post is about rear-facing car seats in a 2009-2015 Tacoma access cab. I found this thread about rear-facing car seats in a 2005-2008 access cab, but the back seat design is different in my 2009.

There are 3 designs for the back seat in the 2nd gen access cab:

• 2005-2008: Flip-forward seats that form a large flat surface (picture in this thread)
• 2009-2011: Flip up seats. Latch connectors on the rear driver’s side seat and front passenger seat with a key-operated switch to turn off the air bag. I do NOT put my kid in the front – the safest place is the back seat, and in Colorado, it is illegal to have a baby in the front regardless of circumstances (even if you have a single cab truck, even if you can turn the airbag off with a key).
• 2012-2015: Flip up seats. Latch connectors on both rear seats (according to the owners manual).
• The 3rd gen (2016+) access cab also has latch on both rear seats (according to the owners manual). Based on looking at pictures I believe this is exactly the same seat as the 2015, but I’m not 100% sure.

There are two challenges when fitting a rear-facing seat in the back of our 2009+ trucks. First, getting enough front-to-back space to fit behind the passenger seat. Second, finding a car seat that will fit on our very short (14” front-to-back according to my tape measure) seat bottom cushion. Some car seats, like my wife’s Chicco KeyFit, require that no more than 20% of the car seat hang over the front of the seat. Other car seats require no overhang at all. But the base of the Chicco KeyFit is 19” long, way more than 20% longer than the bottom seat cushion.

Why is this important? In a forward collision (statistically the most common), a car seat with an inadequately supported base tends to pivot downward. The car seat harness prevents the baby from flying forward into the passenger seat, but the force of the crash is transferred to the baby’s shoulders and neck, not the baby’s back as intended by the car seat’s design.

The car seat I’ve found that addresses both of these issues is the Combi Coccoro, when installed using the seat belt and not the latch anchors:



When installed at the correct angle (as verified by a level), there is exactly 1 inch of space between the car seat and the back of the passenger seat. This is with the front passenger seat on its forwardmost setting in the track, and most upright position. But, it is still in the range of adjustment – not leaned forward farther than the last place that the seat “catches.”

When installed with the seat belt, the Coccoro uses a European belt path, meaning that the shoulder belt wraps around the back of the car seat and prevents it from pivoting downward. This makes the length of the bottom seat cushion basically a moot point. (I could not find anywhere in the manual where it specifies a maximum overhang.)

Additionally, the Coccoro uses a tether strap that attaches to the front passenger seat track to prevent rebound.

Now the downsides:

• The European belt bath makes it a complete pain in the bottom to get your kid in and out of the car.
• The rear-facing limit is 33 pounds (front-facing 40 pounds). This rear-facing limit should be high enough for the 90th percentile of 2 year olds. If you have a very large baby and live in a state that mandates rear-facing until age 2, this seat may not work for you.
• This seat generally isn’t as convenient and feature-rich as some of the more mainstream brands. There is no sun shade, and the harness adjustments can be fiddly.
• Obviously there is no way an adult will fit on the passenger seat in front of the car seat. If we go somewhere as a family, we take my wife's Lexus.

But I'm okay with the compromises as long as I have a correct, safe install in my access cab.