I guess my point is.......the rear seat is a one person seat if you put the car seat in the middle and utilize the latch system >>>

Does the 04 have LATCH in the third row? What seat did you use? Would installing it with the seatbelt have centered it differently so a person could sit next to it?

I know a Graco Ultra Cargo in the center can fit a skinny grandma outboard next to it in the third row, but of course all seats have different widths (the Cargos are narrower than Cosco Alpha Omegas with the base, for instance...)

Sorry, just curious, I didn't know the 04's had LATCH in the third row

 

I didn't know the 04's had LATCH in the third row

They don't. I checked. The Sienna is the only van out there to offer more than one LATCH position in the back (2, in middle and right on the "60%" part of the bench). All other vans have a single LATCH located in the middle. Current Ody has none, but will accept child seats via the old seatbelt method. Two extra thether anchors are required though (they have to be purchased separately).

More info here :

Minivan comparo sidebar in Car and Driver

The printed article had a chart comparing child seat anchors and such for all tested vans.

 

Well, obviously the booster seats don't use LATCH. They just sit there and position the kid. I sure am making a mess of this. I didn't mean CarGo, I meant TurboBooster. You think I have placenta brain or something?? In our Ody, I can put a TurboBooster in the back row, and have room for a size 16 grandma and a medium sized grandpa back there too. It's not a problem. FWIW.

 

I guess I was referring to the tether as shown on page 49 of the manual. It is in the center. Whith the car seat in place..there was little room and I heard a lot of complaints.

 

Just for fun, try that in a Freestar. The child seat won't even fit facing backwards in the outboard positions of the 3rd row. As for other passengers, you will need vaseline to get them in there.

Depending on the width of the child seat, the Ody remains the best choice for passengers + child seats in the 3rd row, this side of a 'burban.

PS The local Ford dealer is advertising Freestar SE's at 2/3 msrp. Talk about desperate...

 

But, booster seats don't use tethers, so... give her two years? *weak grin*

 

Oh well, LATCH in the third row sounded sweet, indeed...maybe in the 2005's?
I have two more tether anchors in the mail to me now, It was funny the kid at the parts counter had no idea what I was talking about when I asked for "tether anchor hardware"...we went round and round trying to figure it out, then he saw something on the computer screen, and said, "oh, you mean for a child seat? That's a Plate Assembly"
I should have negotiated these be put in free when I bought the van, but for $10 each from my dealer, I'm not sweating it. He didn't have any in stock, so he's mailing them to me .

It's really not a very wide third row, I DO agree on that point. I guess since it's got to fold into the floor, they had to compromise something somewhere. It' would have been nice to offer 2 or three built in boosters and/or harnessed seats so that we wouldn't have to mess with seats and boosters back there, wouldn't it?