..to ask why you allow your child to sit in the front seat of the car?

[schooltripwoes]

By child I mean one small enough to need a car seat / booster (under 11s or thereabouts).

All safety advice I've ever read clearly states that children are generally much, much safer sat in the back of the car if there were to be an accident.

Passenger seat safety features such as airbags are designed to protect an adult body, and as such may not work well for a young child.

Yet many of the children arriving at my children's school / hobbies travel sat in the front of the car (I notice this mainly for ages 5-8). In some cases it's because the rear seats are occupied with several siblings / lift shares, but in most cases it's not.

If you let your child sit in the front, why?

@Bimwit
Ur horse couldn't potentially be in an accident with a combined speed of 120mph plus 🤷‍♀️

I am super cautious with car safety but you'll find no judgement here.
I maximise car safety based on my own risk assessment for my own kids. Others can do what the hell they like with theirs. I'm sure some of my parenting in other areas would make hair curl 😂

Ur horse couldn't potentially be in an accident with a combined speed of 120mph plus

True, but hey can suddenly stop - thus tossing their rider and landing them on their head.

This is why no horse riding or DC in front seat happens here

This threads scary. People really do just go by legal limits and that's the end of their research...do a few more google searches. Extended rear facing in the back for a long as possible.

There is a mum at school and her 5yo is on a booster in the front. What's worst part is her dad is in the police. I intend on having a polite and informative chat.

Our kids rear faced until gone four, they have since gone in the front on the odd occasion. 🤷

I'm amazed that everyone pays so much attention to where other parents place their children in a car.

I drive my kids to school regularly and the only time I've ever particularly noticed what's going on in another car is if the child isn't strapped in at all and is climbing all over the place.

I'm fairly fussy about car safety, they're always in the proper seat etc. But I honestly don't care what any other parent does. It's none of my business.

I think around 12 (as pp said the law was in Spain) is sensible - so secondary age not primary.

My DD is 8, 9 in Jan and we let her sit in the front seat for local journeys unless we're all in the car. These are roads with a 20mph speed limit, some 30. Motorway she's in the back.
She is tall at 143cm so not in booster either so I see no reason why not. To be honest we don't actually use the car that often. She's probably on a bus minus a seatbelt more often......

As you can't predict when or what type of accident will happen you can't predetermine the safest seats.

Car hit from behind by another vehicle - you are not safest in the back.
Car hits something in front - back seats probably safest
Car hit on passenger side - you're safest on the driver side (and visa versa).

You just don't know.

I'm always a bit unsure about safety surveys that say the front seats are most dangerous and the drivers seat is the most dangerous. This could well be because they are the seats most often used. There is always a driver but not always back passengers.

Use the correct car seat, strap them in properly, remove winter coats and drive carefully within the speed limit would be my safety advice.

An airbag won't suffocate you, the risk is due to head injuries. If the airbag goes off and the child's head is in the way it's pretty forceful and can kill or injure them.

I'd never really heard this safer in the back idea until a few years ago, I'm sure it was normal when I was younger so it hadn't really occurred. It's just more convenient to have the kids in the back if they are in car seats which are permanently installed.

It's safer to have them in the middle seat too though and I don't see people worrying about that. TBH I am not really sure in a modern car they are much safer in the back anyway. If you look at the ncap rating for cars sometimes the front passenger ratings are much better than the rear ones.

I wouldn't go about berating somebody for having a 5yo on a booster, that's a perfectly normal age appropriate seat and it's none of anybody else's business where it is in the car.

Modern cars are much safer for all occupants with better crumple zones and so on. Talking of ncap there was a good video they did for their 20th anniversary where they crashed a 1998 Ford fiesta and a 2018 one and the difference was amazing.

Trevor I completely agree 👍

We actually really get on and if they choose to ignore me totally fine but I wouldn't forgive myself should anything happen

Hellena The tethers go under the front seat.

Fashionista, I can’t get over those photos of extended rear facing. That girls legs are all folded up, surely any real impact and she’d have 2 broken legs?
Also, it’s legal to have a 5 year old on a booster and only illegal if you buy a brand new one now and child is less than a certain height/weight, ie if you used one that you’ve previously bought before the new law came in 2018 it’s still legally correct. I don’t think your little chat with the mum will go down well!

Front seat is actually safe as the dash is the strongest part of the car, this info came from car seat experts, if the airbag can be switched off then it’s safest to put the youngest rear facing child in the front if you need to fit lots of children in the car, you also need to follow the cars manual as to what’s recommended for older children as some will recommend seat back air bag on but others will be the opposite.
As for kids in front just because then as long as they are in an appropriate seat and following the cars manual then I guess that’s parental choice BUT if they’re chucked in the front with just a seat belt then nope, not acceptable at all unless they are of the age/size to no longer need a car seat.

Its not just speed that increases danger. There is a lot less protection while on a horse, more height, they have their own brain and of course, the exterior of a vehicle could be involved too.

My NDN to the right used to get into the car with their foster daughter in the back seat, safely held i mom's arms on her lap. Dad in the front smoking. She's a teen now so no longer applies.

My NDN to the left has two grandsons, he drives a transit and his GS are in car seats in the front.

I know which ones I believe are safer.

Thing is, OP, if I looked at all the parenting decisions you make and have made, I'm sure I'd find some that would horrify me for a whole variety of reasons. And you'll be horrified to know I put DS1 in the front seat of my 2 door car from birth.

As parents, we're on the hook for making complex, multi-factorial risk assessments all the time, and everyone's situations are different. Car seats in front / back is not a smoking-when-pregnant issue.

Besides, there are safety and relational benefits to the close proximity and eye contact with your kid that are conferred by them being in the passenger seat. Not to mention how hard it would be to get a child out of a car seat in the back of a 2 door vehicle if, heaven forbid, it were involved in an accident, or the car was on fire.

You have to make the decisions you can live with. I'm not sure it's helpful to imply that parents are ignorant or neglectful if they choose to put their kid in the front seat.

Car safety is a real anxiety feeder for mums. Some people treat forward facing as if you're dangling them off the edge of a cliff. Car seats are created to keep them safe, it's not like you're letting them sit on the roof.

Why? Because I've weighed up the risks and am happy with that decision.

It's not illegal or ill advised if you follow the guidelines that other posters have linked to.

There are parenting areas I have made such judgements like offering whole grapes and co sleeping and others where I have been far harsher than others like screentime. Parenting isn't a competition.

But you could apply this logic to anything. Do you put a safety helmet on your child every time they walk down the stairs? I’m guessing not. But there is a good chance they could fall from the top and get a nasty head injury or worse.

Where do you draw the line?

Cars are a lot safer now than they used to be. I see no problem with allowing my child to be in the front seat and I don’t intend to change because someone doesn’t agree with it.

And if one of the mums at the school ‘had a quiet word’ with me I’d tell her to mind her own business.