what is the legal height to sit in the front seat
Age 13. Bam. Done!
The child in the photograph beneath is too young to sit in the front seat. He would be safer to exist in a booster seat in the back seat of the motorcar. It is safest — and best practice — for children to not sit in the front seat until they are 13 years old.
The Centers for Affliction Control, the National Highway Traffic Condom Administration and, near likely, even your air bag and car manufacturer recommend keeping children under age 13 in the dorsum seat.
I say "virtually probable" your automobile manufacturer considering I haven't personally checked the passenger visors in every auto to see if they ALL have a warning characterization like those shown here.
Not anybody follows this recommendation
We notice a lot of children who are patently not 13 sitting in the front seat. This is especially noticeable during our elementary school driblet off and pick upward.
When the kid is then short yous tin just see the elevation of his head over the dash in the front seat, non only should he still be in the back seat but he should also in a seat belt positioner.
We become it. It's hard. Even though we told our 11-twelvemonth-old he'll demand to wait until 13, he still asks to sit up front. And I know some of his friend's parents allow their children to sit down in the forepart. Almost of his friends are allowed to.
As a thing of fact, nine out of 10 parents allow their children to use the vehicle seat belt before they tin can properly pass the 5-step seat belt fit test. And so information technology's no surprise they besides allow their child to sit in the forepart seat before the recommended age of 13.
And while some states practise take laws which require children to sit in the back seat, most do not. Of those that practise, many just go up to historic period 8.
Which states accept laws well-nigh when can children sit in the front end seat?
California, Georgia, Hawaii, New Bailiwick of jersey, Rhode Isle and Tennessee laws require children to be in the rear seat properly restrained until historic period 8.
Delaware law doesn't allow children to sit in the front seat until they are 12 years old or 65″ tall.
Maine law doesn't let children to sit down in the front seat until the kid is age 12 or 100 pounds.
Washington law doesn't permit children to sit down in the front seat of the car until historic period thirteen.
Puerto Rico law requires children to remain in the back seat of the car until age 12.
(Nosotros now have this chip of info included in our list of land car seat laws.)
Again occupant restraint laws are usually the minimum standard to follow as they are typically a compromise between "best practice" and what lawmakers call back their constituents volition tolerate.
Why is it important to follow the recommendation?
Nosotros frequently hear, "but I sabbatum up front and I'grand fine." That's true. Most of us adults did sit in the front seat when we were children. Some of us adults sat in all kinds of places that would exist considered compromising to our condom these days. For instance, because of lack of seating, I often was squished into the hatchback of my mom'south Mazda RX-seven while my brother, only 2 years older, was in the front seat. And Greg often shared the cargo infinite of their station wagon with 1 of his 8 siblings.
A lot of things have changed since then such as the number of cars on the road, the speed at which they travel, an increase in miles driven per family and increment availability of passenger air bags. Virtually importantly what has changed is our knowledge of crash dynamics and occupant safety.
iii reasons to expect for a child to sit in the front end seat
1. Location, location, location. The back seat is the safest identify for your children — actually safer for everyone regardless of historic period, pinnacle or weight — because most crashes occur in the front of the machine and the dorsum seat is farthest from this impact. Then in general at that place is a lower take a chance of injury for back seat passengers.
2. Air numberless are designed for a 140-pound man wearing a seat belt. (I know fellow women under 140 pounds, nosotros don't fit the ideal range either, kind of like seat belts are non designed for women — much less pregnant women. Simply what are car manufacturers to do? They have to utilize some average.)
Airbags are not designed for children who are much lighter and smaller. Every bit such airbags can cause serious injury to children beneath the superlative requirement past hitting them in the face, chest, cervix or head at speeds of between 90 to 210 miles per hour.
Nationwide, more than 100 children have been killed past air bags in contempo years. And many of these deaths were in slow-speed collisions that should have been small-scale.
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Also older children are more likely to take the maturity to stay sitting properly and proceed their body out of the deployment zone of the airbag. When properly seated and wearing their seat belts, teens are generally big enough for the air bag to exist of some benefit.
3. Bone development. Kids may be every bit big equally adults on the exterior but their skeletal organisation is still developing. Bones develop strength with historic period, not size.
According to a written report in , children who are 12 years old or younger have iliac crests that are less developed than those of adults. (The iliac crest is the part of the hip bone which keeps the seat belt properly positioned on the hips.) This can allow the seat chugalug to ride upwardly over the abdomen, causing seat belt syndrome.
Children do non have fully developed breast bones or sternum, yet. While this may non fully develop until a few years later on, waiting until at least thirteen gives information technology more than time to get stronger. Without a mature skeletal system, a child in at increased risk of injury, especially if the child is also in the deployment zone of an airbag.
Are in that location any exceptions to the rule?
Generally speaking you tin can have a child sit in the front seat if all the rear seats are occupied by other children. For example — and much to my dismay — Grandma'southward machine only has two seat belts in the back seat so my xi-yr-old gets to set up front when she drives all 3 of our children. He, of form, is super happy about this. Luckily he 5-stepped some time ago and is mere inches from my height.
Other exceptions may be if your motorcar has no back seat or if your back seat has lap-just belts and no shoulder restraints and your kid rides in a booster, he's safer in the front end seat properly secured in a booster than in the back not in a booster.
If you do finish up with a kid in the front seat, turn the airbag off or accept it to the dealership to have them disable information technology. Some vehicles have "smart" airbags which tin can notice the weight in the front seat and automatically turn off if the weight is low plenty to not trigger it. As well push the front seat back as far every bit possible, especially if you cannot turn off the airbag.
In the end, yous are the parent. You tin can brand the choice to tell your child safety trumps their being "absurd".
By Amie Durocher, Artistic Director at Condom Ride 4 Kids and certified CPS Tech since 2004
Copyright 2021 Safe Ride 4 Kids. All rights reserved. You may non publish, broadcast, rewrite or redistribute this material without permission. Yous are welcome to link to Safe Ride 4 Kids or share on social media.
Nosotros originally published this post in August 2017. Nosotros updated the article for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Source: https://saferide4kids.com/blog/can-children-sit-in-the-front-seat-car/
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