Older kids in front seat

HEVY

New member
So R just turned 12, is 62 inches and 122lbs. She sits in the back but has been harassing me about when she can sit in the front, cause, you know ALLLL her friends sit in the front :rolleyes: I told her 15 :eek: she said it was 13, I looked it up and it's 13.

What is the recommended age?

There is an air bag and I believe it can not be turned off.
 
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kidrepair

New member
So R just turned 12, is 62 inches and 122lbs. She sits in the back but has been harassing me about when she can sit in the front, cause, you know ALLLL her friends sit in the front :rolleyes: I told her 15 :eek: she said it was 13, I looked it up and it's 13. What is the recommended age? There is an air bag and I believe it can not be turned off.

DD2 will be 12 in August and is 62.5 in and about 115lbs. I started feeling comfortable at 5' and 100lbs. DD1 was much older before I felt comfortable but she was 81lbs and 62in at 13.
 

Dillipop

Well-known member
My oldest just turned 12, is about 75 lbs, and 4'10". He occasionally rides in the front when the back is full of other kids. I'll feel more comfortably with him up front once he's at least started going through puberty, I think.

I believe recommended age is at least 12, possibly as high as 15, depending on who you speak with and which studies you refer to.


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LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
What year is the car? I'd be more concerned about older-generation airbags than newer ones.

I personally think it's absurd to wait until 15 for a child to sit up front. Going straight from the back seat to practically driving doesn't make sense to me, but I know some people do it.

A recent IIHS found that in newer cars, the back seat didn't offer additional protection for kids over...gah, I don't remember. 8? 10? Something like that. It's not that back seats have gotten more dangerous, it's that front seats have gotten a lot safer while the back seat has kinda stayed the same.

For a car without advanced airbags, I'd be comfortable with 12 probably. Maybe 13 depending on the size of the kid and the particular circumstances.
 

melniemi

New member
My 14yo started sitting up front when he got as tall as me and hit 100#....which was right around his 14th bday. He starts drivers ed next month, at 14y 10m. My next son will be 14 in August. He weighs 85# and is 62-63". He doesn't ask to sit up front but has on occasion. Hoping he will hit 100# before sitting up front often. For some reason 13-14y, 100# and 63" sounds big enough.
 

HEVY

New member
It's a 2000 Windstar. I thought the argument was about the physical maturity, not age and size, as stated in the article Brianna posted.
 

Athena

Well-known member
Interesting. I was wondering if you'd checked your car's manual. I think mine says 13, so that's what I've been assuming we should go with, but now I wonder if we should wait longer. We're still years away from that. I see too many elementary school kids in the front seat. It still surprises me. But it's not like they're in boosters in the back seat either. :rolleyes:

It's a 2000 Windstar. I thought the argument was about the physical maturity, not age and size, as stated in the article Brianna posted.

It sounded to me like they're saying they suspect it is the physical changes that come with age that create the age correlation, not age itself.
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
What year is the car? I'd be more concerned about older-generation airbags than newer ones.

I personally think it's absurd to wait until 15 for a child to sit up front. Going straight from the back seat to practically driving doesn't make sense to me, but I know some people do it.

A recent IIHS found that in newer cars, the back seat didn't offer additional protection for kids over...gah, I don't remember. 8? 10? Something like that. It's not that back seats have gotten more dangerous, it's that front seats have gotten a lot safer while the back seat has kinda stayed the same.

For a car without advanced airbags, I'd be comfortable with 12 probably. Maybe 13 depending on the size of the kid and the particular circumstances.

Here's the IIHS study: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/sr/statusreport/article/49/11/3

and a quote from the results

After controlling for occupant age and gender, the relative risk of death for restrained rear row occupants was signi cantly higher than that of front seat occupants in model year 2007 and newer vehicles and signi cantly higher in rear and right side impact crashes.

Since your van is from 2000, I would hold her off for another year. Even though she's adult-sized, she's still dealing with just-turned-12 yr old bones.

I have a 2011 SUV and I'm having the same dilemma with my just-turned-13 yr old (her birthday is the day after R's). Even though I have advanced airbags, my dd is 5'3" and weighs 88 lbs. on a heavy day. It's a tough decision.
 
I'm just getting used to one of my 13.5YO's riding in the front occasionally - she's a smidge over 5' and around 100lb. Her twin sister (who hit puberty at the end of 5th grade) still prefers to sit in back though and has probably sat in front only a couple times when we had 2 other kids in the car and DD2 wanted to sit in back to chat with her friends
 

bnsnyde

New member
Here I see age 8 a lot of the time. Yikes!

I just tell the kids 13. I think DH was 6 feet at that point. He is 6'4" now.
It never occurred to me to sit in front and even in high school/college, I'd sit in back of my mom's car. I think it just always seemed back was safest and there was always a seat back there, I guess.
 

thekatie

New member
So R just turned 12, is 62 inches and 122lbs. She sits in the back but has been harassing me about when she can sit in the front, cause, you know ALLLL her friends sit in the front :rolleyes: I told her 15 :eek: she said it was 13, I looked it up and it's 13. What is the recommended age? There is an air bag and I believe it can not be turned off.
J1 is 12 (4/25/03) and same size. He doesn't really ask for in my car, but he does ask when he'll be carpooling with others (band teacher took 4 students to a band thing, or yesterday he went with Scouts to camp). I'd actually be a lot more comfortable with him up front in my car than with a group of his friends where he'd probably impulsively be turning around and stuff.

He's sat up front when I've had a car full of kids. He does okay with me. The thing is, even though he's my size - dead even with my height and getting close to my weight - I really feel he still needs a boost, even if it's just an Incognito not a full booster (backless). Without anything, the seatbelt is firmly on his stomach. We might be the same standing height but I guess we're not proportionate? Or he just slumps. Or something. But, I *personally* would rather he stay in the back until he fits the seatbelt really well without aid. So I guess that will be my condition.

Side note: most kids don't even blink when I say back seat, even the ones that have been in the front seat in their cars since first grade.... but the teachers in pick up line? One actually told him "why does your mom treat you like a baby and make you sit in the back?" :fuming: J1 said "because it's safer and she cares about me enough to keep me safe - look at my brother, he's still rear facing." But it just made me SO mad that the teacher felt the need to comment, and the baby thing. Grrrrr. He's not coming back this year :)
 

Keeyamah

Active member
Unless drivers ed changes here (currently 14.5 to start it) I'll prolly let my boys (assuming they are 5-stepping, no real worries for my older, he's 4 feet already) start sitting up front around 13.5. That way, if they convince me of the need to take drivers ed as soon as they can, they've had a year being up front. Excluding rides in Daddy's old F-150, as it's only got a single bench seat so there is no back seat.
 

Suzibeck

Active member
I tell my kids 13. I always thought it was about bone density more than size. I did let dd3 start sitting up front a few months before her 13th birthday though. She helps at our seat check events and has to ride in front when the back is full of seats and other supplies. It just kind of carried over.
 

Morganthe

New member
I tell my kids 13. I always thought it was about bone density more than size. I did let dd3 start sitting up front a few months before her 13th birthday though. She helps at our seat check events and has to ride in front when the back is full of seats and other supplies. It just kind of carried over.

Same here. I know the study said 14 and older do better, which MAY be due to bones, muscle density over size. But with dd, I see her moving up front by Sept next year when she turns 13. I figure she's going to be at least as tall as I am, maybe even taller by then.

Currently, she's near/over 5'2 and around 100lbs. She's muscular and strong. One of her besties is the same age, same height, but only around 80lbs. Stick kid who experiences injuries all of the time.

Comparing the two just in maturity & muscle structure, dd seems a lot older than her friend. I don't know if that would make a difference in a study or not. :shrug-shoulders: And it's something that isn't easily tested out either.

When the car is full of kids, as it was on Friday, I now don't hesitate to put dd in the front seat. I just adjust it to a higher setting & ensure the belt adjuster is set low. The seat's already back as far as it can go.

Full time? I don't know. But next year in the fall, if she wants to ride up front, I'm really not going to fuss.
 
Side note: most kids don't even blink when I say back seat, even the ones that have been in the front seat in their cars since first grade.... but the teachers in pick up line? One actually told him "why does your mom treat you like a baby and make you sit in the back?" :fuming: J1 said "because it's safer and she cares about me enough to keep me safe - look at my brother, he's still rear facing." But it just made me SO mad that the teacher felt the need to comment, and the baby thing. Grrrrr. He's not coming back this year :)

Good for J1 for trying to educate that teacher - his was the kind of response that would warm the heart of any carseat-geeky mom:)
 

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