I think it's for insurance reasons. And holding piles of crap. The back seats can fit kids under 5 or so, there's anywhere from 2-6" of legroom back there (literally). They're actually kind of comfortable if you slouch down below the rear window and take out the front seats. I was putting my interior back together and stopped for a slurpee break and was kicking it in my back seat with the stereo on. Was some good stuff.