If your child keeps begging to sit up front every time you get in the car, you may be wondering when you can safely let your kids sit in the front seat. Long gone are the days of calling ‘shotgun’. A rite of passage for many, family car rides would often pit brother against sister for the coveted spot in the passenger seat. As the saying goes though, when you know better, you do better. The following guidelines will help you figure out how old your child should be before they can sit in the front seat.
Laura Sampson, a mom of adult children, remembers the rules being much more lax when her kids were small. “My oldest son started riding in the front when he was just 6 years old,” she told Mom.com. “As far I know, there weren’t restrictions on when it was safe to ride in the front seat way back then. With my two younger sons, I knew better, and followed the guidelines.”
Car seat safety laws and guidelines
Deciding to let your child sit in the front seat
Despite car seat guidelines that allow children to sit in the front at the age of 13, many parents use their own judgment. “I was and still am very strict with car seat rules,” mom Michele Brosius told Mom.com. “My kids didn’t get a front seat spot until they turned 12 and even then it was rare. Probably at 14 or 15, I gave in and let them sit beside me.”
If your child is physically able to safely sit in the front seat, there are additional factors to consider. For the last 22 years, federal legislation has mandated the use of frontal airbags. These are standard safety features that, according to the NHTSA, saved almost 45,000 lives through 2015.
Frontal airbags are designed for adults. Once airbags are deployed, they explode at a range of between 10 and 16 mph. This range depends upon the impact of collision. Many newer airbag models are equipped with sensors to determine whether or not the seat occupant is wearing a seat belt. The airbag will then deploy accordingly. The caveat of a frontal airbag is that the force at which it deploys can cause injury or even death to a young child.
Cyn Gagen is grateful that she followed the car seat safety guidelines to the letter. “My daughter was at least 13 before she was allowed to sit up front and even then it was only because she was tall enough and weighed enough that it was safe,” she recalled to Mom.com.
“Thank goodness we followed these because when she was 10, we had a bad car accident. Even with her sitting in the back, we were told that she was lucky to be alive.”
