..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?

Seriously though - does anyone REALLY put 9/10/11yr olds in a car seat? Really?
Please tell me you drop off round the corner from school if you do a school run in it!

My 11 year old granddaughter has sat in the front if there isn’t another adult in the car for a few years since she was involved in a head on collision and has suffered from travel anxiety since. She likes to be able to see what is coming towards the car. If the front seat has an adult in it she sits in the middle of the back seat even when her 2 year old sisters Joie every stage is in the car and she is squashed up against it. She had a lot of counselling and an insurance payout of a reasonable amount.

I need to fit all four of my DCs in the car! I sit DC2 in the front seat on a high back booster seat because it's safer than her being in the back middle with no seat at all; we can't safely fit 3 seats across and can't afford to buy a 7 seater car. She also gets terribly car sick so the front is far better for her. DC1 sits in the middle in the back as he doesn't need a seat legally and he can be trusted to keep an eye on the two smaller DC and it's a 3 point seat belt. DC3 is in a brand new, super duper high back booster seat in the back behind my seat, whilst I would prefer him to be in a 5 point harness still, he can't rear face as he's terribly car sick when we do it and we don't have the features in my car to allow for the only car seat that has a 5 point harness to 25kg. He's better behaved in a high back booster seat than he is with a 5 point harness too; he can undo his 5 point harness, he can't undo the seat belt.
DC4 is getting a new ERF seat on Monday as she's only little but just about too big for her baby seat. It can be faced forwards to 25kg and I'm hoping by that time we've been able to save up for a nice new 7 seat car with all the nice safety features to enable us to do that once she's old enough to be turned forward, so around 5 years old. It would be nice to be able to take just one car when we go anywhere as a family too!
I'd rather have them all in the safest positions and seats possible but unfortunately my car won't allow for that, so I've got them in the safest seats and positions for them under the circumstances and I've made my risk assessments with the full facts of both the law and car seat safety available to me.
My DCs safety is absolutely the top priority which is why I've spent a not inconsiderable amount on the best/safest seats we can get, it's still a lot cheaper than buying a new car! To suggest I've decided my DCs safety isn't my top priority is bullshit and frankly obnoxiously judgemental. If you try and tell me that as a complete stranger, you'll be informed politely but firmly that I am fully aware of what is safest in an ideal situation but I've got my DCs in the safest positions and seat for the situation at hand probably with a serious eye roll and an odfod included if you persist.

We did it once. Dc1 had a head bump and needed to go to A&E. Only one adult. Felt it was less risky to have them in the front where close supervision possible than in the back

You are not supposed to turn the airbag off unless they are rear facing. The law in Ireland is that this is legal once in correct seat and correct airbag situation. I do it if transporting a friend's child; mine goes in front, always short trip but I don't like it. I see worse: a preschooler today in front seat, no belt and a max 4yo no seat, no belt in back seat. My 6yo has been teased for being in a 'baby seat' (HBB) and I don't know what the same people think of 3yo rear facing.

Sorry if this has already been said, but OP I assume your child only ever sits in the middle seat in the back as that's the safest place? Because what reason would you have to put them next to a window which isn't as safe??

Leontine/Tiger there is no law/guidance about children in the front seat but since 2003 it's been the law that children must travel in an appropriate car seat or booster seat until they are 12 years old or 135cm tall, whichever comes first.

Much to my 10yo's dismay the height limit is 150cm in Germany where we live so he is still on a booster Not a high back one though as he doesn't fit in them any more.

A general rule is furthest from the dash is safest. Those saying you had no idea the front wasn't as safe, didn't you have your parents tell you weren't allowed in the front until 10)/12 whatever it was?!

It minimises fighting. 10yr old DD has been known to undo her brothers seat belt, it's dangerous for me to drive and break up fights.
Having her in the front is the least worse option.

I see this too, very young kids sitting on a booster in the front. I'm sure they know and are choosing to do it their way or the child has travel sickness. If I interfere I'm sure they wouldn't like to hear it.
Yesterday I saw loads of parents stuffing babies and toddlers into their car seat while wearing a big padded winter coat...

my ds is 12 - and is 5 ft 10. no car seat.

my dd is 8 and is 5ft 5 - she has no car seat.

for me personally, i breed giants. im sure car seat rules are for shorter / more average weights / heights. so i think im ok, despite height/weight.

my younger dd is 2 and is always in the back in her age appropriate car seat.

i couldnt cope with her in the front, she'd be a distraction..... but other than that, with the appropriate seat, i think she'd be fine if i placed in the front IF absolute necessary (if airbags ect were turned off ect ect)

what does boil my piss - people who pick their kids up from school n light a fag up in the car straight away. i agree with flipflop789

Often put my 5 year old in the front because of car sickness. As other people have said in Ireland it’s ok to do so as long as you adhere to the guidelines ie in an appropriate booster seat with air bag on for forward facing and airbag off for rear facing.

I rarely have any of my DCs in the front and it’s always been because we’ve have to put a back seat down to transport a sodding pushbike somewhere. Also it’s always the oldest. My son is 9 nearly 10 and yes he has a car seat as it’s the law until he is a tiny bit taller and has never been remotely bothered by the fact he has to sit in one. All but one of his friends still uses one also.

When I was a child, my parents had a car with a bench seat in the front, so we all sat there. No seat belts, no restraints - Nothing happened to any of us! Far too much protective fuss about kids these days.

Many, many years ago my brother always had to go in the front seat because of severe travel sickness.

@tigertooth my 7,8 and 10 year old are still in high back boosters, I'm not embarrassed to admit that as they're still safer than a poorly fitting adult belt. You want to laugh at me doing the best for my children then chortle away, my kids are safer that's all that matters to me

MilkTray There is a lot more traffic and parked cars than there used to be. The roads are more dangerous.

Nope never again. I used to be relaxed about this and thought it’s a short journey/ it’s nice or whatever. Until I had my partners at the time 8yo in the front seat. We had just been shopping, got McDonald’s and I went into the back of someone when they suddenly stopped and I was going 40. I will NEVER forget the moment I realised I was going to hit the car, look at her, put my arm out to soften her blow, and as we hit them watching her body fly forwards then backwards.
No one was hurt My car went under their very nice large car while mine was tiny and written off. That image had stayed with me for years and I refuse to ever have any child in the front seat. I’ve had my sister at 11 shreik at me for not allowing her in the front seat and I didn’t care one bit. My parents thought IWBU, but my response was when you have an accident with her in the front and see what I saw then you can comment, but otherwise I will never change my mind.

Tessabelle1 Couldn't agree more. My kids 8 and 6 are still in the high backed boosters as they offer more side impact protection.

@hohocabbage alright, wind ya neck in!

Of course I’d be more mindful of current guidelines, it just surprised me to hear of other posters who themselves were never allowed to sit in the front and/or used booster seats until they were 12.

Sadbri

I’m sorry you had that experience... but you said no one was hurt and you were able to put your arm out to soften the blow, which you wouldn’t have been able to has she been in the back. Surely she would have flown forward and back in the same way in the back seat in the same way, but you wouldn’t have seen it?!

@Oakenbeach I wish I had never seen it. It scarred me really bad and I had awful flashbacks for years after. Although me putting my arm out when hitting a car, probably did nothing. I'm just grateful my airbags never went off, lord knows why they didn't, they should have.

I put the baby in the front seat of DMs car once to go to a hospital appointment. It was in another town, and too late to organise alternative transport; we don't have a car, so not really savvy on them, the thought genuinely didn't occur to me that the infant seat wouldn't fit in the back (the seatbelt was too short). I figured it was safer for her in the front with the airbags off than in an incorrectly fitted seat in the back.

@Janus it is safer in the rear of the car as the energy of the impact is lower by the time it reaches the rear occupants. On impact the car crushes, absorbing energy, as it goes through the car, front to back, more energy is absorbed by deforming parts of the structure so by the time it gets to the rear occupants the acceleration pulse is smaller, so they seatbelts are enough restraint. Of course you will always get anecdotes telling you that such and such only survived because they were in the front/eating a sandwich/had their feet on the dashboard....... The best car seat in the world cannot change the acceleration pulse that the occupant is subjected to in a crash. They work by providing a rigid structure for the seatbelts to react against, so the belts don't cause injury to the softy squishy children.

Definitely due to child vomiting even on short journeys. Car seat in the front he can see better and this kibd of helps with travel sickness.