DO YOU PUT YOUR CHILD IN THE FRONT SEAT?

[sheepgirl]

My ds is almost 9mths old and I drop him off to the CM's every morning on my way to work and then pick him up inb the evening. The CM lives around the corner from me. My ds hates sitting in the car seat and will scream the house down. However, I have noticed that if he is sitting in his car seat in the front passenger seat he is fine. So the 5 min journey there and back could be much more pleasurable. However, is it a total health and safety no no to have your baby in the front seat?

I wonder at what sort age /weight/height/speed an air bag becomes life saving rather than life threatening. Would be useful to know what the factors are. I know people who have had minor accidents where their air bags have gone off unnecessarily and they have received burns from the propellant I think, but not actually hit the air bag themselves.

I can't believe people would take risks with their children, I have known two hideous car crashes in recent history involving people my family knows. One with a child and one with and adult. It only takes a split second for that accident to occur. The most recent accident happened only a fortnight ago and they are lucky to be alive.

I assume that it will be something connected to this new law about booster seats. They are required up to 130 or 140cm I think (not sure exactly)? I would guess that this has a lot to do with airbags, they have been shown to be so dangerous to young children - I think this is why even forward facing seats are not recommended in the front as they do not lift the child high enough to miss the air bag when it goes off.

The air bag is designed to be wider at the bottom to to help hold you back, this is where the face or head of a child in a car seat would be. An adult would get a bit of a bruise on their ribs whereas a child with or without a seat would get a "bit of a bruise" around their face and head. I assume that the 130/140 cm thing is when a childs head would be high enough for this not to happen.

An acquaintance of mine puts her baby in the front and she does have an airbag

She said she phoned up the car manufacturer and ws told as long as the seat is back as far as it can go it was safe

She is a doctor ,I was shocked,expected her to be more safety conscious

Is it a rear facing seat?

If forward facing then people think it is OK but def not rearward. I am unclear if it is against the law or not, but it is certainly something that is very heavily frowned on - I would recomend she go to her local fire station on their next open day and have them check the set up, they are really good to ask as they are teh ones who have to "clean up" after all these accidents and will let you know exactly what you are risking.