Can a ten year old sit in the front of the car...

bestpud

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Almost all the children at our school sit in the front. I have never given this a second thought and my children have always sat in the front from tiny once out of rear facing baby seats. Is this a real problem or a hypothetical one? My daughter doesnot sit close enough to the dash to be suffocated by an airbag.

I wonder what the implications of airbags are for a short !!!! 5 ft 2 like me driving, if they can suffocate a child then I would have thought it could suffocate me too.

I think the smaller you are, the more care you have to take with the position of your seat. There is a recommended safe distance to be sat from the airbag, but I am 5'4" with short legs and could not reach the pedals from the safe distance back when we had our mondeo!!!

There is also something about having the head rest in the correct position too, I believe, because the force throws your head back harder than it would ordinarily in a crash. I may have imagined that though - can't remember where I have got it from! :rolleyes:

The first point I made was in our car manual so I know that is correct.

andyrules

There is some useful info here.

patchwork_cat

Yes I knew about the head rest - top no lower than the top of your ears. The data link given says 10 inch from steering wheel - I doubt I can do this safely.

Seriously though my daughter was in a car seat well after her peers - thankfully I had managed to keep her in a booster until the legislation was nearly introduced and that kept her in, but some of her friends were already out of boosters and there was no getting them back in - she was very peeved. She won't sit in it now as she knows the minimum height and she has made that. Most of the kids at school pick up are in the front. If this is a serious concern it is not well publicised and would be hard to put into practise in this house at least - she is strawberry blonde with a red heads temper, can't think where she gets it from!

bestpud

DD(6) is pretty much always in the front seat of our car as it is mostly only me and her, or her dad and her, in the car at the same time. She obviously has her booster seat and we have no air bag. When there are three or more of us she goes in the back though. It's a small 3 door car and as such it is easier than her getting in and out of the back all the time.

Tbh, I've always tended to have a child in the front, at least when they were in rear facing seats and boosters, or ones which use the three point belt.

Although, when they've had front facing seats fitted to the actual car (years ago with my older children) or the lap belt when dd2 was little, they have stayed in the back because it was better to leave the seat where it was.

I have heard they are safer in the back but never seen anything fully conclusive on this. I'll be worrying about it now though...! :rolleyes:

ailuro2

The safest place to be is in the middle rear passenger seat. This gives them room to avoid side impact collisions, remember not all crashes are head on.
A 10 year old with no booster seat shouldn't block the rear view mirror . Your OH can still talk to him, they won't have eye contact anyway even when sitting side by side. (Unless your OH is one of those people who make me scared by driving and turning and looking at their companion to talk face to face with them instead of watching the road:eek:)

As your DD is 6, bestpud, can she not belt her own seatbelt now? She's old enough to do it properly. If the back's the safest place, a few seconds is worth it, don't you think?

patchwork_cat

The middle would only be safe if there is a 3 point belt and not a lap belt. It is beyond me why they ever used lap belts as they are terribly dangerous. They do get eye contact through the mirror.

PasturesNew

purplepatch wrote: »

The full netdoctor thing is here, in case anyone interested. Scroll down to the bit about why airbags are dangerous for children half way down. Apparently they were designed for adults weighing "about 75kg" which is around the 12 stone mark.

12 stone? Crikey. I was never ever ever ever 12 stone, even when I was at my hugest and lardiest and was deemed obese on the scales!

Then I went down to 8 stone. Now about 9-9.5 (still overweight!)
I'm 5'1"

purplepatch

ailuro2 wrote: »

Your OH can still talk to him, they won't have eye contact anyway even when sitting side by side. (Unless your OH is one of those people who make me scared by driving and turning and looking at their companion to talk face to face with them instead of watching the road:eek:)

That is where he sits anyway when we're all in the car, but it is a squeeze for him as he is between 2 high back carseats.

DH picked him up yesterday and I noticed that DDs booster seat had been moved when I used the car later on, so the message obviously got through anyway.

They like to listen to music together in the car, so it is a bit awkward him being in the back, plus DH's hearing isn't that great either which is a bit of a hindrance to chatting. But better to be safe.

bestpud

ailuro2 wrote: »

The safest place to be is in the middle rear passenger seat. This gives them room to avoid side impact collisions, remember not all crashes are head on.

As your DD is 6, bestpud, can she not belt her own seatbelt now? She's old enough to do it properly. If the back's the safest place, a few seconds is worth it, don't you think?

Yes she does belt herself in - it's not that - just easier than putting the seat forward and watching she doesn't trip on the belt.

It's a Ford Ka and the front belts are on a rail type thing and can stick, making it very easy to trip over when getting out.

But yes, I agree, it is worth the time if she will be safer.

However, we don't have a middle rear seat - there are only four seats in a KA. So is she still safer in the rear than the front with the seat right back?

She is less comfortable sitting behind the driver as she has long legs for her age, but they are still too short to reach the floor, so stick out and get wedged behind the drivers seat. That is when I am driving. When dh is driving, she doesn't have room for her legs behind him, as he has the seat right back - dd(15) sits there as she puts her feet under his seat. Hope all that makes sense?

The back if the car is very small so if hit from behind she would be closer to the impact than she would be if sat in the front during a front on crash iyswim?

I don't know! Anyone else know where she is safest?