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Why can't a young child sit in the front seat?

  • I have long read young children shouldn't sit in the front seat; some organizations say 12 others 13, some say 4' 9", some don't give a height.  The common thread is "it's safer in the back seat" and some even specifically state "you can be thrown into the dashboard or through the front windscreen" if you're in a head-on accident in the front seat. My question is based on the above information no longer being valid in modern vehicles.  In the back seat of my car, my kid is going to hit his seat belt and his head into the back of my seat, covered in plastic.  In the front seat, he's going to be cushioned by a big air bag.  In modern cars, mine are a 2009 & 2010, I don't think you ever hit the windscreen or dashboard.  If you have your seat belt and the airbag deploys, you should be covered, yes?  Couple that with side-impact air bags - I actually believe you may be SAFER in the front than the back, if nothing, not less safe. Are there any statistics or studies to show in modern cars, it is still safer to be in the back?  I would love to find survivability statistics for front versus rear passengers.

  • Answer:

    It'a actually the airbags themselves that make the front seat unsafe for kids. Or, more specifically, the force with which the airbags are deployed (about 200 mph). In a rear-facing seat, the force of the airbag is aimed at the infant's head and throws him forward. In front-facing seat or even seated in the car seat, the force of the airbag can kill a child, who has weaker muscles (especially neck and back) and larger heads than adults. Plus, the airbag is only effective for people positioned properly in the seat, which most kid a under 13 cannot be. Also why small adults have a slightly higher danger from them. http://www.chop.edu/service/car-seat-safety-for-kids/tips-tools-from-experts/airbags.html http://www.dmv.org/how-to-guides/air-bag-safety.php http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/airbagqa.html http://www.babycenter.com/0_car-seat-safety-air-bags_396.bc

Wendy Tegge Gross at Quora Visit the source

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Other answers

The most common reason for children under 12 to sit in the back is the rear seat is  considered safer - Over 50% of collisions are front end, and being in the back puts them further from the point of impact. Children in the front seat are also frequently out of position - fiddling with the radio, slouching in the very large seat, tucking their feet under them, or pulling the belt out of position behind their arms - And it is when you are out of position that both the belt and the airbag has more of a risk of injuring the child. Even though modern air bags frequently deploy in 2 stages, it could still strike the child in the chest and cause rib fracturing or worse. You always want to make sure there is at least 28 cm between you and the airbag - to give it time to explode out before you crash into it, but children under 12 are not always capable of this - so the back seat wins!

Rae Green-Treusch

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