Looking for a new minivan that will be totally safe for your kids? It’s overwhelming to choose a new vehicle when you have small children. You want something that’s as safe as possible, but you also need a lot of room. On top of that, it’s not only helpful to be able to easily put car seats into your car, it’s important, too. That’s because when car seats are properly installed in a vehicle, they’re safer. Here are the only two new minivans to win the highest safety awards and also have the best car seat LATCH ratings.

The 2022 Toyota Sienna has the best car seat LATCH safety systems

The 2022 Toyota Sienna is a minivan that has everything that you could need in a minivan. It also has the best car seat LATCH systems. The Toyota Sienna is an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Pick+ and it also has the best rating for its car seat LATCH system.

LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children. It’s one way that car seats are able to be safely secured to vehicles, and it’s supposed to make it easier, and hopefully therefore safer.

The 2022 Honda Odyssey is an IIHS Top Safety Pick+

Another option for the best minivan for families with small kids is the 2022 Honda Odyssey. Not only does it have a G+ for its car seat LATCH system, it’s also an IIHS Top Safety Pick+.

To win the coveted Top Safety Pick+ award, a vehicle must have good crash test ratings in all major categories. It also has to have superior or advanced safety systems and acceptable or good headlights standard on all models.  

The IIHS carefully evaluates car seat LATCH systems

Some of the things that the IIHS evaluates include the lower anchor accessibility, force, and clearance angle. In addition, it pays attention to the location, any hardware that may be confusing, and how many LATCH systems are available in the vehicle. To get a good+ rating, the SUV must have a good rating and also have “A rating of good+ is awarded to vehicles that meet the criteria for a good rating and provide additional LATCH-equipped seating positions for maximum flexibility. For a two-row vehicle, that means having a third good or acceptable LATCH seating position. The third position may use either dedicated anchors or borrowed anchors.”

If you plan on putting your child in a forward-facing car seat, you’ll need to use the LATCH system. The IIHS says that “tether anchors are always needed when installing forward-facing restraints, regardless of whether the lower anchors or the safety belt is used. The top tether keeps the child seat from pitching forward in a crash.”

If you want the safety and space that a minivan offers and you have young children in car seats, both the 2022 Toyota Sienna and the 2022 Honda Odyssey are great options. Each of these minivans is a Top Safety Pick+ winner and they also have the best LATCH system ratings possible.