2022 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab Car Seat Test + Graco Car Seat Installation

Hey folks and welcome to the Truck King YouTube channel. We've gotten a ton of requests from you guys to do more car seat tests with pickup trucks, so that's exactly what we're going to do. Today we're going to take a look at my Graco Forever and how it fits in this Toyota Tacoma Double Cab TRD Pro. Let's take a look. Yes, this is the TRD Pro. This is the model you buy if you want to go off-road. Now if you want to see this truck get muddy, make sure you hit that subscribe button and come right back here to the channel because we are going to shoot a full off-road video. For now we are just focusing on how car seats fit in this Tacoma and it is a double cab, so even though it's a TRD Pro the double cab dimensions don't change, so this is going to be applicable for all double cab Tacomas. Welcome to the back seat of this Tacoma Double Cab. This is 32.6 inches of rear seat legroom, which is actually the least in the segment. Ranger has more, Frontier has a little bit more, and Colorado and Gladiator have more, so if you prioritize rear seat space you might not want to look at a Tacoma. Now before I get my seats in here, why don't I hop in and just see how I fit. Now I've adjusted this front seat, so this is my seating position, and the answer is I basically don't fit. My knees are jammed into this seat. Now this seat could be moved further forward, but if I was sitting up there, well then my knees would be jammed into the dashboard. So yes, the Tacoma is pretty tight. I do have just enough headroom and I stand at six foot two, so that's how a larger than full size adult fits. Now let's see how the baby seats fit. So when it comes to the actual hookups, you have two lower latch positions in this Tacoma. One driver side, one passenger side, no latch there in the center. And then when it comes to top tethers, this is a 60-40 split rear seat. This is the 40 side, so that comes down and your top tether is right back there behind the seat. Now personally, I prefer this setup. Most pickup trucks have a little redirect loop up here because these seats don't fold down. I think this is easier, although some would argue it's a little more annoying because you have to fold the seat down while that strap is hooked up. I'll show you how that all works in a minute, but it's just good to know you have one top tether on this side, and then when you fold down the 60, two top tethers there as well, so you can put a forward facing child seat anywhere across this rear bench. And now it is time for the seat. So this is my Grayco Forever, and keep in mind a lot of the information you're about to hear only applies to this seat. If you have something a little bit different, look in your own owner's manual to make sure you get the right information. So first, let's go ahead and install the seat. We're just installing it rear-facing today, and we are using the UAS straps and the latch system here in the Tacoma. So we take our buckles, you kind of jam them down between the seat cushions, and you find that little metal bar. Fairly easy to find here in the Tacoma. Sometimes the seat cushions can be really tight. The other thing you want to do is make sure there's no twists in your strap, so that's nice and flat. This one's always trickier because you have to reach over, kind of find it without seeing it, but there we go. That one's on, and now I'm going to go ahead and tighten my strap. What I like to do is run the strap kind of back up through the seat's handle here, so I can be pulling straight up on it, because if you pull at an angle it doesn't work as well. And then the other real key when you are installing a seat like this is to really use your own weight. So put your weight on it, and then pull up on that strap. Put your weight on it, and then pull up on that strap, and repeat until you can't go any further. Now what I should also point out is right over here, you're going to see this little level. You have to make sure you're within spec on the level. Grab the seat right at the belt path, right where it's hooked up, and try to move it, and it should move less than one inch. Yeah, see, I'm barely getting any movement. So if you get less than one inch of movement at the belt path with your non-dominant hand, you know that seat is installed correctly. So now you've seen the seat go in, let me go up into the driver's seat, and we'll see how I fit in front of this car seat. Now with the car seat installed, how do I fit up here? Well, first of all, I got to move this driver's seat back, and we go by the sheet of paper rule, which means that a sheet of paper would fit between the car seat and the front seat. So there's going to be no contact there whatsoever. I'm clear now. I think I can go back just a hair. I always need to get as much space as I possibly can. And let's see how I fit. I don't think it's going to be good. Well, could I drive the Tacoma like this? Yes, I could. Would I be comfortable? Absolutely not. I don't really like the seating position of the Tacoma anyways. And now add the fact that I got to really push forward. My knees are up. They're going to be jamming into the dash. Like I said, I could get away with this, but this would not be comfortable. So this is a question you have to ask yourself as well. If you have to install a baby seat behind the driver's seat, will you still be able to drive? And the answer is yes, but you're definitely going to be giving up some space and comfort to fit those babies back there. Now, the reason we like this Graco forever and why it gets its name is because it can last with your kids, well, basically right through their childhood. And it does go from rear-facing to forward-facing. Now in rear-facing configuration, it's good for kids from four to 40 pounds. And then in front-facing configuration, it's good for 22 pounds up to 65 pounds. But be aware, most experts agree that rear-facing is the safest way for your child to be in a vehicle. So you want to keep them rear-facing for as long as possible. Don't switch them to the front. The second they hit 22 pounds, wait until the 40 pound threshold or whatever the threshold is for your specific seat, and then flip them forward. Basically wait as long as possible to turn them around. Now that we have it in forward-facing configuration, I'll show you how it installs and we'll talk about those top tethers. So first of all, here on the forever, you have to adjust the recline like so, and then I'll do the top tether. Now, what I was talking about before, most trucks just have a redirect loop so you don't have to fold that seat down, which is convenient because then you don't have to get the seat out of the way. On the flip side, those loops are really annoying to work with and they can be finicky to kind of feed the thing through. I prefer this setup. The annoying part of this setup is this, you have to get the seat out of the way while you actually go ahead and fold the back of the Tacoma down. Otherwise, yeah, you have nowhere for the seat to go. Now I'll show you in a b-roll shot what I'm doing here. You go ahead and take the top tether, you hook it onto that bar, you go ahead and close up your back seat, and then you just pull this strap nice and tight like so. So the other thing we're also going to do right now is we're going to seat belt install this seat. The pathway down here, that is for rear-facing, the pathway up here, that's for forward-facing, and I still have the UAS straps down here, so I'm going to install using the seat belt up here. So what you do is you take your seat belt, mine is now jammed behind the seat, there we go, make sure there's no twist into it. You want it to sit nice and flat, and then you want to feed it in to your seat. You got to kind of reach underneath the material to make sure you can get it under like so, make sure it stays flat, and then once you're through, go ahead and find your buckle down here. There we go. Now you pull the seat belt out until it locks, and then basically same rule as before, I still have the level, although this level is only for rear-facing, I should point that out. So now what I want to do is I want to put my weight onto the seat and pull up on this locking seat belt to lock it in place. So I'm pushing down with all my weight, pulling up on the seat belt, and you're getting a little clicks out of it. I'll see that's not enough though, it's not tight enough. This is why the UAS straps and the latch system is always better than a seat belt install, I would say as well, just because the seat belt install is always harder to get that seat super tight. With latch and with those dedicated straps, I find it always much easier to actually get the seat as tight as you want it. So that's not bad, once again now the rule is, at the belt path with your non-dominant hand, can you move it more than an inch? And the answer there is no. So there you go, the forward face is now installed and the nice thing about the forward face and what we do in our trucks is that my older son, he goes behind me, the driver, so he can forward face and that allows me to come back a little bit. But again, there's not a lot of leg room here, so I could maybe get another inch out of this and then I'm going to be crushing Otis's little legs. So yeah, the Tacoma has enough space for a family, but it's going to be a tight fit. Well folks, we have come to the end of this one. Like I told you right off the top, if you prioritize rear seat space, the Tacoma is actually the worst choice in the midsize segment. But I think today we have proven that of course car seats are going to fit in the back, you just have to be ready to give up some of your front seat space in order to accommodate your kids in the rear. Well, like I said, that's it for this one. Now please go below, let me know what you think of this car seat test and what you would like to see from future tests. As always, while you're down there, don't forget to hit like, hit subscribe, hit join to become a member, and then come right back here to Truck King to see what we are testing next. See ya!