front seat or back seat which is safest?

[LittleB]

Is it more dangerous for my daughter to travel in her car seat in the front seat? She's 2 and is in a forward facing car seat. I've read the car seat laws. But I wondered if its actually more dangerous for her to be in the front. She's usually in the back, but sometimes I put her in the front when I want to keep her awake as she can see more and chat to me and stays awake better (its those afterwork pick ups when I've got a 45min drive home at 5pm and sleep then would be a disaster.) Does anyone know?

slightlymadsweden are you in sweden then? aren't the car seat laws over there really strict?

No I am due to change my name at some point soon....just happens to be in the right part of the dictionary

If you have a proper seat belt in the middle of the back seat that is the safest place for a child to be restrained - obviously in car seat - that is ROSPA's advice anyway.

Thanks everyone, thats really useful, I will try and get a new car with a rear centre seat full belt so dd's car seat can go there, and make sure it doesn't have a passenger airbag, or that I can disable it if she needs to travel in the front. Thanks for all the useful links.