Putting the kiddos in a luxury car might make some adults think twice, especially when it's a compact sedan, but the 2016 Cadillac ATS proved that its smaller size isn't a detriment when installing child-safety seats. For novice parents and parents-to-be, leather seats are a breeze to clean up too. We tested an ATS 3.6L Premium with leather seats, which seats five passengers. The ATS also comes as a coupe.
How many car seats fit in the second row? Two
What We Like
- The ATS has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats behind vertical slits in the seat cushions. There are three easy-to-use tether anchors under hinged plastic covers on the rear shelf.
- This sedan's backseat is surprisingly roomy, and we were able to easily install our rear-facing infant seat. There was no need to move the front passenger seat forward to accommodate it. The infant seat's narrow hook Latch connectors worked well with the ATS' Latch access.
- Both the rear- and forward-facing convertible fit well in the ATS' backseat, but we had problems accessing the Latch connectors.
- The booster seat fit well in the ATS after we raised the head restraint.
What We Don't
- The stiff leather seats made it difficult to access the lower Latch anchors with our convertible car seat's rigid, bulky connectors. We had to work at it to get the connectors hooked onto the anchors.
- Floppy seat belt buckles not only blocked access to the lower Latch anchors, but they're also difficult for younger kids in booster seats to grasp when attempting to buckle up independently.
Grading Scale
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: Plenty of room. One fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing third row when available.
C: Marginal room. Two fit or connection issues. Difficult to access third row when available.
D: Insufficient room. Two or more fit or connection issues.
F: Does not fit or is unsafe.
About Cars.com's Car Seat Checks
Editors Jennifer Geiger and Jennifer Newman are certified child safety seat installation technicians.
For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide Classic Connect 30 infant-safety seat, a Britax Marathon convertible seat and Graco TurboBooster seat. The front seats are adjusted for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver's seat, and the infant and convertible seats are installed behind the front passenger seat.
We also install the forward-facing convertible in the second row's middle seat with the booster and infant seat in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit; a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. If there's a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible. To learn more about how we conduct our Car Seat Checks, go here.
Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat, and that Latch anchors have a weight limit of 65 pounds, including the weight of the child and the weight of the seat itself.
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