RResidents in Japan

Child seats and rental cars

  • August 10, 2025

I got my driver’s license recently and was planning a roadtrip with my wife and 2 year old toddler. I wanted to buy a childseat with an ISOFIX, but not sure if Times and other rental cars support ISOFIX. According to ChatGPT, Japan has mandated ISOFIX for 2012 models onwards, but a friend also said he never encountered a car from Times that had an ISOFIX.

I’m fairly new to this. I appreciate if you can give some insights about this.

by Low-Chard6435

8 comments

  1. You can see the models of cars at spots around your place and check, I’m pretty sure most of the cars have ISOFIX. Just go to the car on the parking lot and look through the window to check.

    Most likely your friend doesn’t have kids and just never noticed.

    I bought a folding car seat to use with Times cars and never had a car without ISOFIX (mostly Mazdas).

  3. Just fyi they don’t always put the brand marker on the car. My Suzuki alto has isofix but you can’t see any labels or markings for it

  4. Every time I’ve rented a car, I just note the ages of my kids, and the rental company installs and supplies car seats. Never had to use my own.

    ISOFIX and the North American LATCH standard are on every car anyway… never seen one without them.

  5. > a friend also said he never encountered a car from Times that had an ISOFIX

    Unless your friend has only ever received a car from well before 2012 they have *definitely* rented cars with ISOFIX. Even if the car seat doesn’t explicitly state “ISOFIX”, if it’s even a relatively new-ish model (from 2010 onwards) the seats should come with them standard.

  6. I did the same, actually I never checked for isofix. I just went to the closest available times car with my childseat , all of the random cars I picked had isofix.

    But after a year I got tired of moving the childseat (I got a huge heavy one just in case ) so I bought a car lol.

  7. As someone thats about to become a dad. I learned something new today.
    Thank you OP! Useful information
    Have a nice trip

    Edit: that sounded sarcastic when I read it. It’s not

  8. Basically all cars have ISOFIX. In a sedan, they’re usually the rear seats on the left and right side. Sometimes also equipped with a seatbelt anchor that goes back and behind the seat.

    Save your money though, just say you need a car seat, and for like 500 yen the car rental place should put one in for you. Times may not support this because their business model interfaces with the cars less… But more traditional rental car places like NicoNico and Orix should work with you just fine. I bought a child seat for this exact purpose, ended up getting moldy in the closet because we didn’t use it often at all.

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