Getting into rear seats by folding front seats only?

[appie]

Hi,

I am considering buying an I3 and I was just wondering: with the awkwardness of accessing the rear seats when someone else's car is parked very close and alongside of yours and getting ¨boxed in" by the front and back doors being open, would it be possible to get into the rear seats by NOT opening the rear doors at all, but with only the front doors open and the front seat folded forward (with the little thingy in the back of the headrest)?

Or isn't that even remotely practical at all, or requiring extreme flexibility from the passengers?

 

[alohart]

I think it would be very difficult, maybe even with the front seat slid all the way forward. The front door isn't nearly as wide as the front door on a 2-door car with rear seats. The closed rear door would make rear seat access difficult. Maybe a slender flexible person could get in, but I've never tried to do this.

 

[appie]

Do the front seats slide forward when folding them forward with the lever in the headrest (like in 2/3 door cars), or do they only fold but otherwise remain in position?

I went to see an I3 today but - facepalm! - I failed to try this myself

 

[keepgoing]

The lever on the head rest only folds the seatback forward, but not sliding the seat forward. It would be very hard for any adult to get in and out without the rear door opened. And with the limited leg area without the rear door open, a passenger could easily trip over while getting out.

 

[appie]

Ok, this does not sound like a viable option then, too bad. But thanks for your input!

 

[appie]

Hmmm so coincidentally, last night I came across this video and at about 3:42 they discuss just this!

So did they manually adjust the seating position forward first, and then folded the seat? Because as said above: folding the seat with the headrest lever does not slide the seat forward, right?

They sure make it look as if it is done in 1 go,but if it means having to find back your seat position (no memory on the seats remember), it's very inpractical but perhaps doable on exceptional occasions.

https://youtu.be/iOuw24E9NCQ

 

[eNate]

A child finds this acceptable but as had already been suggested, likely no adult.

As an alternative may I ask why you wouldn't just plan on pulling the car out of the parking space and allowing the passenger to ingress with ease?

If the i3 is truly boxed in, it's very easy for the driver to enter on the passenger side and slide across in a dignified manner. If the car is in a truly perilous position, the windows can be rolled down by remote and the car can be entered "Dukes of Hazzard style."

For what it's worth I haven't faced a parking situation where I couldn't easily get my kids into the back seat using both doors. There is a technique in tight spots (driver stands ahead of the front door, passenger stands in the gap of the front door to open the rear door) but that's about as awkward as it gets — which really isn't much at all once everyone is on the same page.

 

[appie]

Haha Dukes of Hazard style, I am not sure I can sell that to my wife

On a more serious note: thanks eNate, good to hear it has always worked out for you. And yes: pulling out of the parking spot first and then letting the passengers in, should pretty much always be a viable alternative. Mind you: we live in Europe, so parking is often quite tight and parking spaces are definitely not sized for e.g. F150s, so my concern is that tight parking is more of an issue here than it might be in the US, resulting in the door situation being a more frequent cause of frustration...

 

[eNate]

Well curiosity got the better of me so I took a shot at this.

To just barely squeeze into the front seat (about a 9" gap at the narrowest point between the tip of the arm rest to the rear door), the front door needs 17" of gap to open into.

To get into the back seat without opening the rear door, I don't find any good way to manipulate the lever to move the front seat forward with such a small gap, and it's also unreasonable to contort ones self to "double bend" into the back seat through this tiny gap.

However, with the front door open into a 17" gap, that's just sufficient space to open the rear door and close the front door. At it's most-open position, the rear door takes up 19" of space away from the side of the car.

This method also makes back seat ingress difficult — it's a very narrow opening with the front door closed

 

[appie]

Haha got a video of you trying?
Thanks for trying though!

 

[websterize]

It's a tight fit. In the photo below, the front, LHD seat is positioned for a 6 foot 1 (185 cm) driver.

 

[appie]

Thanks for the picture, this really helps!

 

[Fisher99]

I must not be fully understanding the (potential) issue. The first solution, as has already been mentioned, is to simply move the car to let the passengers in. However, even without moving the car, if there is enough room to open the front passenger door to allow ingress to the front seat, then there is no reason that I can see why a rear seat passenger couldn't enter too.

1. Rear seat passenger opens front door, moves into the open space created by the open door, and then opens the back door and enters the back seat. If there is another rear seat passenger, simply close the rear door and repeat the process with the 2nd passenger.

2. Front seat passenger can then enter the car.

What am I missing?

 

[appie]

You're not missing anything except that for the fact that it is a total nuisance having to do this frequently. Mind you: we're not in the US here but in Holland. Backing up into the street immediately blocks traffic as our streets are often quite narrow, and parking spots are much tighter than in the US so it will be a more frequent problem.

Granted: if you can get into the front seat, you can also get into the back seat. However, doing this little "dance" often gets old very quickly, especially with two rear passengers having to do the same dance successively.

For illustration, here's a picture that shows how tight our parking spaces typically are, with two US cars in them for your reference. I can imagine it being less of a problem in the US with spaces sized to accomodate F150's and the likes...?

 

[Fisher99]

You sound like a perfect candidate for a Tesla Model X with falcon wing doors...

 

[appie]

Nah... I don't like full touchscreen dashboards...