A question for the parental units out there

[auntiehill]

Since I have never had kids of my own--only nieces and a nephew, I have always put the little ones in the backseat of the car when they come to visit, or I've been sent to take care of them.

I've probably spent the most time with friends' teenager kids (14-17)--they're practically grown-- and my nephew, who has always been a great pal of mine. But my nephew is much younger; he just turned twelve this past December, and has been growing like a weed. He's now about 5'3" or 5'4". He constantly wants to ride in the front seat with me, and tells me his biological father lets him ride in the front seat all the time.

Of course, this is the same man who was caught driving drunk with his son in the car (both his parents are MORONS--don't get me started), so what that dumbass does means extremely little to me.

My nephew is coming to stay with us for his entire Spring Break. He wants me to take him on some day trips around town. I'm thrilled he's coming and can't wait to spend time with him, BUT---is it OK to let him ride in the front seat of my car, even with the air bags? I have an older car, so I couldn't deactivate the bags if I wanted to.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If he's twelve years old, I assume that makes him old enough to be able to ride in the front seat. It's only with kids in carseats that you're supposed to put them in the back, AFAIK.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

Wait a minute- I'm 5'1". Does that mean I'm too short to be in the front seat?

Who's gonna drive my car?

 

[Kelso]

Check with the laws of your state. Some states require a child to be twelve years old or 100 pounds to be in the front.

 

[auntiehill]

^I checked the TxDot website and could only find information on special child-seats. The height cut-off is 4 foot 9. So, I guess a kid my nephew's height would be OK. But I've seen other states that have all kids 12 and under in the back, for safety.


Hmmm.

 

[Finn]

5'4? That's more than tall enough. I think 4'8 is the rule.

 

[Saturn0660]

The law is bullshit anyway. My daughter is 7 and she's about 50" she rides up front with me all the time.. You know what the difference is?? She wears her seat-belt plus put the seat all the way back... Hell when I still had my 94 Saturn it didn't have a seat-belt on the passenger side. Hell, she rode up there with me in a rear facing seat. it's fine.. the back seat isn't any safer then up front.

 

[John Picard]

The law is bullshit anyway. My daughter is 7 and she's about 50" she rides up front with me all the time.. You know what the difference is?? She wears her seat-belt plus put the seat all the way back... Hell when I still had my 94 Saturn it didn't have a seat-belt on the passenger side. Hell, she rode up there with me in a rear facing seat. it's fine.. the back seat isn't any safer then up front.

Well, the law is for dipshits who don't think anyway. I agree with your seatbelt and seat moved back actions. When I wrecked my 2002 Cavalier in 2008, the police officer asked me if I was wearing my seatbelt. I looked at him and asked, "Do I look like I went three rounds with Mike Tyson?" He understood, and went on to tell me people think airbags are like a soft, fluffy pillow. I sit far enough back that when it deployed, I'm betting it was at least 8" from my chest.

 

[May 20]

auntiehill, he's old enough and tall enough to ride in the front seat. I'm guessing he probably weighs at least 100 lbs. by now, so he's heavy enough for the air bag if it deploys. Just make sure the passenger seat is pushed all the way back and that his seat belt fits correctly across his hips and hits his shoulder where it should and not his neck. My daughter is almost 12 and is about his height, and I let her ride up front when just she and I go somewhere.

 

[auntiehill]

^ Cool. Good to know; thanks!

 

[scotpens]

Check with the laws of your state. Some states require a child to be twelve years old or 100 pounds to be in the front.

Really? That's news to me. I live in California, and I never heard of a law requiring kids under 12 to ride in the back seat of a private car. What's the point of such a law? Sounds like yet another example of needless nanny-state meddling.

From age 7 to 10, I attended summer day camp. The counselors would drive us to camp in station wagons with the back seat folded down and eight or ten of us kids sitting Indian-fashion on the bare metal load floor. Seat belts, hell -- there were no SEATS! That was a 45-minute trip each way, three days a week, for six weeks each summer. And, miracle of miracles, AFAIK, all of us kids SURVIVED!

Try schlepping a load of children -- or adults -- like that today and you'll get arrested. Next thing, they'll make it illegal to smoke in your own home if there are children present. Or is that already against the law in some places?

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I would let him ride in the front seat unless you want to be thought of as that mean auntiehill who still treats her nephew like a child. If I was in middle school and was still being put in the back seat I would be majorly resentful.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

As far as the restrictions go it usually has to do with height and weight. If the child is too small the seatbelts will cause more problems in an accident than be life-saving. Also, if there is an airbag it CAN do harm to a child under the restricted height.

 

[Lindley]

Some airplanes are starting to install seatbelts that have airbags built into the belt. I think that's a really good idea, which should hurry up and show up in cars, too. Having the thing expand away from you just seems safer.

 

[nevermore]

Wait a minute- I'm 5'1". Does that mean I'm too short to be in the front seat?

Who's gonna drive my car?

Seriously.

Shit, I'm the same height I was when I was 12 and probably 10 pounds lighter. These rules are stupid and arbitrary. Then again, I somehow survived riding up front in a Fiat Spider for the first 10 years of my life, so I guess my parents were a little less hyper-protective than they are today or something.

 

[scotpens]

. . . These rules are stupid and arbitrary. Then again, I somehow survived riding up front in a Fiat Spider for the first 10 years of my life, so I guess my parents were a little less hyper-protective than they are today or something.

Hear, hear! I couldn't believe the brouhaha when Britney Spears drove her car a few blocks with her infant son in her lap. The way people reacted, you'd think she'd given the kid a baby bottle filled with straight bourbon.

When I was growing up, children rode in cars wherever they could fit. That often meant sitting on an adult passenger's lap, on the transmission hump, curled up on the floor, lying on the package shelf behind the back seat -- just about anywhere except the trunk.

 

[Mistral]

The law is bullshit anyway. My daughter is 7 and she's about 50" she rides up front with me all the time.. You know what the difference is?? She wears her seat-belt plus put the seat all the way back... Hell when I still had my 94 Saturn it didn't have a seat-belt on the passenger side. Hell, she rode up there with me in a rear facing seat. it's fine.. the back seat isn't any safer then up front.

Well, the law is for dipshits who don't think anyway. I agree with your seatbelt and seat moved back actions. When I wrecked my 2002 Cavalier in 2008, the police officer asked me if I was wearing my seatbelt. I looked at him and asked, "Do I look like I went three rounds with Mike Tyson?" He understood, and went on to tell me people think airbags are like a soft, fluffy pillow. I sit far enough back that when it deployed, I'm betting it was at least 8" from my chest.

Smart. I worked at TRW assembling/testing airbags(they make them for all of the major models) and those suckers are dangerous! The storage room for the ignitors has 6" thick walls, the actual inflator(a sterno-like can full of semi-solid azide explosive) was handled under extreme safety protocols(about equal to nitro protocols) and the storage building for the completed product was called The Bomb Room-for good reason. When I worked in testing we used facilities similar to the PD bomb squad uses for controlled detonations and those walls had huge gouges in them.

Check with the laws of your state. Some states require a child to be twelve years old or 100 pounds to be in the front.

Really? That's news to me. I live in California, and I never heard of a law requiring kids under 12 to ride in the back seat of a private car. What's the point of such a law? Sounds like yet another example of needless nanny-state meddling.

From age 7 to 10, I attended summer day camp. The counselors would drive us to camp in station wagons with the back seat folded down and eight or ten of us kids sitting Indian-fashion on the bare metal load floor. Seat belts, hell -- there were no SEATS! That was a 45-minute trip each way, three days a week, for six weeks each summer. And, miracle of miracles, AFAIK, all of us kids SURVIVED!

Try schlepping a load of children -- or adults -- like that today and you'll get arrested.

My buddy was an EMT in Az and kept a scanner in his car. One Saturday afternoon we heard an accident report come in. It was over the city line and Ed knew Rural/Metro would take 1/2 hour to get there. We were 5 minutes away. One vehicle was an Olds, the other a Town & Country station wagon driven by an Indian woman. She had 7 children in her car when the old guy driving the land yacht hit her. Ed did what he could and I actually got a three second lesson in clamping and sewing a vein. The lady survived and so did three of the kids. The inside of the T&C was splashed with blood. It coated the insides of the windows and the doors, even the ceiling. The back seat was flat so the kids had enough room, I guess. You got lucky.