Canadian rules for child in a passenger seat

clarinetb · Jan 17, 2011

A friend was asking and I don't know as much about the Canadian rules, I explored the US ones because of potentially needing to put my daughter in a moving van with us

Are there laws on when a child can go in the front seat? All the recommendations say to keep children under 12 in the back seats, but my understanding was it wasn't law.

Can someone help me out with what the laws are in this respect? Sorry, should have added this is Ontario as it might vary by province

Thanks!

Nimommyof2 · Jan 17, 2011

I dont' believe there are any laws but it depends on how you are planning to have your daughter sit(in a seatbelt? carseat RF/FF? booster seat?). For example if she is still RF and there is an airbag that would be illegal to put a RF seat in front of an airbag, or another example if she is in a carseat and there isn't a tether than that would be illegal, also I think some booster seats say in the instructions not to use in a seat with an airbag so you wouldn't be able to do that.

clarinetb · Jan 17, 2011

Nimommyof2 said:
I dont' believe there are any laws but it depends on how you are planning to have your daughter sit(in a seatbelt? carseat RF/FF? booster seat?). For example if she is still RF and there is an airbag that would be illegal to put a RF seat in front of an airbag, or another example if she is in a carseat and there isn't a tether than that would be illegal, also I think some booster seats say in the instructions not to use in a seat with an airbag so you wouldn't be able to do that.

I was going to verify with her, but it sounds like it is a child that is no longer in a seat, but she was concerned there was a law since there are always warnings.

Thanks.

QuassEE · Jan 17, 2011

There's no Canadian law, period. The laws are provincial and some laws do have restrictions (Quebec, I believe; one or two others.) Which province(s) will they be travelling in?

-Nicole.

clarinetb · Jan 17, 2011

QuassEE said:
There's no Canadian law, period. The laws are provincial and some laws do have restrictions (Quebec, I believe; one or two others.) Which province(s) will they be travelling in?

-Nicole.

I had added Ontario figuring that it would likely be provincial given transportation is... Just to make things more confusing,

canadiangie · Jan 17, 2011

Primarily it's an active airbag that is most worrisome if the child in question is under age 13. We can talk all day

about laws, but I'm more about getting into the realities of the situation. How old is this child? What kind of moving van? When was the van made?

clarinetb · Jan 17, 2011

canadiangie said:
Primarily it's an active airbag that is most worrisome if the child in question is under age 13. We can talk all day about laws, but I'm more about getting into the realities of the situation. How old is this child? What kind of moving van? When was the van made?

The moving van was an issue for my family last year, so I had to look up the US laws.

This is a friend in Ontario. It is in her vehicle and would be for a very short period of time, short distance in town, for a one time thing. I passed along info regarding the air bag, either disabling it, or checking what the weight is to engage it and keeping the child all the way back. She is being very careful but was concerned that there may actually be a law she wasn't aware of.

vonfirmath · Jan 17, 2011

Are you renting the moving van? The rental may say something about having children up there too

mommycat · Jan 18, 2011

clarinetb said:
This is a friend in Ontario. It is in her vehicle and would be for a very short period of time, short distance in town, for a one time thing.

Is she needing to put a child in front because she has other kids filling up the backseat on a particular occasion? That's what it sounds like to me. If the child is not in a seat (or is in a booster) and fits well in the seatbelt and the seat is set as far back as possible from the airbag while still maintaining a good fit in the belt (not moving shoulder belt way out from body - set the seat totally upright to help) and the back seat is fully occupied by other smaller kids, then I guess that would be ok IMO. Sometimes the situation is just not ideal.

Canadian rules for child in a passenger seat

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