I am confused--it is the same belt in front and back, right? So what did they do un til 13+ in the backseat? |
It is not the seat belt, it is the air bag deploying. The reason why car seats, even in reverse, is not suppose to go in the front seat is because of the force of impact from the air bags. |
It is ludicrous to propose that an individual child's injury is comparable to the effects of unleashing a communicable disease on a community. Do you say the same thing about people who eat too much, people who don't exercise, people who exercise too much, people who don't wear their helmets while biking, people who climb mountains without safety gear, people who ride motorcycles, people who jaywalk etc etc etc. Basically any risk that anyone takes while living their life could fall into the type of thing you're talking about. |
PP here. the airbag is the reason I don't let my 12 year old sit in the front. But the first poster said it was because of the seatbelt, not the air bag. Unless you are the first poster, in which case, the positioning of the seatbelt still doesn't make sense. |
I'm 38 and also did not ride in the front seat until 12 or 13. I was one of the few kids at my school not riding in the front seat, which was quite embarrassing, but my father insisted I not sit in the "death seat." |
13 is safest. That's what I did for my kids. Though many children at my kids' school ride in the front starting at age 5, which is the law in our state. It's ridiculous watching them drive by, seat belts across their necks because they are so small.
Many of these same parents also self congratulate on their restrictions on "junk food" and "screens". Idiots. |
I am 41 and was not allowed to ride in the front seat until I was 12. |
I have put my 9yo in front seat twice when we had too many kids and once when I bought some furniture and had to fold down back seat. I have a 7 passenger suv so it is rare that he would need to go in front.
They are guidelines. I don’t see him sitting in front if there is room in back. |
43 year old poster here again. Now that I think about it, it was probably whenever airbags started to come out in cars. I know my parents didn't have a car with airbags until well after I was an adult. |
It only is party about size but bone structor and growth and that has nothing to do with size. |
This. Less than 2 miles to the grocery store and the speed limit is 25. No problem letting my 12 year old sit up front. Longer drives they are in the back. |
I'm 54 and wasn't allowed to sit in the front seat until I was a teenager--ergo 13. So it started a long time ago if your parents were educated. |
Wow! What state? |
My DS who is 19 started at around 14.5. DS2 is still in the back (13). I'll probably let him switch soon, but he hasn't asked so I'll wait until he does. We have a big car that's comfortable in the back, he probably likes the "chauffeur effect" |
It isn’t about education. There was no Internet to look things up back then. I am in my 40s and wrote in the print sheet at a very early age. We were up at middle-class living in Texas and Colorado. |