Children in the front of the car - how old?

[TinyGang]

I keep my children sitting in the back of the car usually mainly because I seem to remember something about airbags in cars at the front not being safe for children/babies in an accident.

Does anyone know how old/big children have to be before it's ok? My dd is 7 and is tall; she doesn't seem to really need her booster seat anymore. She wants to sit in the front sometimes, especially in her grandmas car which is smaller than ours and rather squashed when all three are in the back.

personally I wouldn't before secondary school.

various reports have said before that although children may be tall, their bones do not yet have the density of adult bones. And therefore the front would be more risky.

I intend to keep the ds's in boosters till secondary school too. as reports suggest despite height children are safer in these to the age of 11-12.

However...I sat in the front at 9 ish...but then my parents didn't ever have an accident with me in the car.

I think it's supposed to be when they are 5 ft tall, but

On a booster seat, they become the equivalent of 5 ft much earlier
I'm not 5 ft tall, and I sit in the front!!! and drive.

DS who is 6 Y.O. and 4 ft 4" tall rides in the front when it's just me and him. I reckon on his booster he sits taller than me! I move the seat back, so it's not as close if the airbag were activated (tho' I try not to have head-on collisions).

children up to 11 still need child seats......

by may 2006 it will be illegal to let a child under 11 travel without a carseat. children under 5ft/150cm tall (approx 11 years old) aren't sufficicntly developed to travel without a child car seat or booster seat! Using an adult seat belt before a child is sufficicntly develop may put them at higher risk of internal injury, particularly if the belt does not fit properly across the pelvis.

doesn#t say anything about a child traveling in the front only that they need a booster.

Ford told us not really before age 12. They refused to deactivate our airbag so we could put a child in front, due to safety.

Tbh, I do think you are generally safer in the back than the front and for me that comes before any child's desire to sit up front.

Thanks everyone - I have kept them in the back until now and feel happier because it seems safer although I don't know if it actually is. Interesting point about the bone density too. Dd is curious about being in the front I guess, but she'll have to wait a bit longer.

One set of grandparents have never really understood my worries about car safety. They got some child seats thankfully at my request, but I could see they felt it was a faff and they never seemed to be in tight enough for my liking and would move about. I would re-explain it all over and over and tighten them up, but I could tell they didn't get it at all. V annoying. Once they were about to set off and the carseat wasn't even attached to anything at all!! Thankfully we now only need boosters which are less hassle than child seats.

I can clearly remember sliding about in the front of my dad's old Zephyr when I was small. It had a bench front seat and I didn't wear a seatbelt - no-one did in those days. Thank god things have changed.

a couple of years ago, it was 3 years old, to sit in the front seat without a baby seat in the UK.

I had this dilemma with my 6yr old dd about 3weeks ago. She is sick in the back and we have to make a 10 mile journey once a week. We have no airbag in the front. She is small for her age but we have let her over the last 3wks travel for this journey in the front in a high back booster.
It's not something I'm happy about but we put the front seat back as far as we can.

my dh had to travel in the front from about 7ish as otherwise he threw up everywhere!! Not sure what else you can do in that situation...if none of the other anti-sickness things work!

mm do you actually mean DH?

yes...even now at 32 if he sits in the back he threw up!!