Is it Ok to let an 7 Yo ride in the front of the car?

[thatwasfun]

I have to go on a longish journey with DS1 soon, just me and him.

I was thinking it might be nice to have him next to me so we can chat better - I have a noisy car and struggle to hear DSs when they are in the back.

Does anyone have any info about the relative saftey of the front and back seats. He will have his usual booster seat and seat-belt, obviously.

it's fine
I've done the same with my 4 year old

The issue is airbags, if there is a passenger seat airbag then you need to turn that off.

I often do this with my 7 year old when there are only the two of us

yes - air bags the issue. I put my tall 6 year old in the front if we have an extra child - we can turn our air bag off

If there is a bad crash, the switch could turn itself back on. The safest place for children under 12 to sit is in the back of the car

Why do you need to switch the airbag off with just a booster seat?

I thought the idea of a booster was just to lift the child up so they fit the seatbelt better? Surely that puts them in the same position as an adult?

I'm not being argumentative BTW, am genuinely interested because we never switch the airbag off for DS1 to sit in the front, because of the reason above?

In terms of relative safety (not sure about airbags and boosters and all that guff), the passenger seat is the most dangerous seat in the car. If you are in an accident, you tend to swerve yourself away from anything you are about to hit, putting anyone in the passenger seat in the way. The safest seat is middle back.

I wouldnt do it. I'd have in the back. You still need to switch the airbag off if a child is there with a booster seat.

Air bags are designed to deal with an adult in the event of a crash. Children are not going to be saved by them and there have been cases where the child would have survived had there not been an airbag.

www.safermotoring.co.uk/airbag-safety-children.html