Can I put a child seat in the passenger seat of my car?

[dangirl]

I know I am not supposed to put a baby seat facing backwards on the seat when airbags are in the car. But how about a child seat? My daughter is now 3 years old. And yes the air bag is still switched on in my car.
Dangirl

Not really, dangirl - they deploy at 200mph. Can you disable the airbag?

heres a link to Rospa

Ideally nobody under 12 should be in a seat with an airbag. Airbags can kill even small adults, never mind children.

she is safer in the back. but if you have to pu her in the front then push the seat back as far as it will go.

The RoSPA link says:

A child is safer in a child seat in the front than not in a child seat in the front but even so, you are risking a fatality - just be aware.

I mean if the back seat is full so someone has to go in the front, that's one thing - if the child is whingeing to go in the front when the back seat has space, don't even think about it.

Thank you so much for your quick responses!
I will keep her in the back of the car.
It was purely for her entertainment that I was thinking about it. So much more fun to sit in the front... I will how ever keep her where she is.
Thank you again.
Dangirl

dangirl I sometimes put my 3 year old in the front in his seat if I need the back seats for other children but I don't have an airbag in my passenger seat. It isn't much fun for me though as he reaches over with his feet and presses the radio on and off etc and has also changed my side mirror etc so I wouldn't recommend it for entertainment purposes.

Is there anyway you can turn the airbag off?

I am looking at getting a Smart fortwo which is a 2 seater convertible. DD is 3yo and she will obviously have to go in the front. But this will be with the seat really far back (Smarts are so roomy inside; used to have one before and i had forgotton how big they are inside) and the airbag off (the carseat does this automatically inthis car).