kids and airbag

[21Rouge]

Hey guys, the new vibe arrived yesterday! Lots of fun.Anyways my vibe has all the airbags ie front and side curtain. One of my kids who is 10 wants to sit in the front seat while I am driving. I know that kids and airbags arent good safety wise. But I went to the CAA site and Transport Canada and all they seem to say is that kids under 12 should not be in the front seat of a car which is airbag equipped. This is clearly an incomplete warning. It must depend on height and weight. Does anyone have a web reference with such specifics?

[russ257]

"Q: How did the agency determine that age 12 was the appropriate age below which children must be seated in the rear for maximum protection? Wouldn't height and weight be better determinants than age? A: All children are safest in the rear of a vehicle, regardless of their age or size. In recommending that children 12 and under never sit in the front seat of a vehicle which is equipped with a passenger air bag, the agency reviewed all crashes in which children were killed due to impacts from the air bag. While height and weight could be useful determinants of a child's safety in air bag-equipped vehicles, there are no known precise measurements that can be used that will guarantee that no injuries or fatalities will occur. Each vehicle is equipped with a unique air bag which will deploy with a different force. Thus, generalizations as to height and weight cannot be made. We do, however, know that children are safest in the rear of vehicles. If no option exists other than seating them in the front seat, several steps need to be taken. First, the child needs to be properly restrained. This means, depending on the size of the child, using a booster seat plus a lap/shoulder belt, or a lap/shoulder belt alone (for larger children). Second, the vehicle seat needs to be pushed all the way back, to maximize the distance between the child and the air bag. Third, the child needs to be sitting with his/her back against the seat back, not wiggling around or leaning forward, with as little slack as possible in the belt in order to minimize forward movement in a crash. "taken from:http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/peopl....htmlso it looks like they dont record height and weight data. I mean consider a small adult female and a large 10 year old boy the boy could very well be bigger then the adult but because of the age thing she can sit in front and he shouldnt. I would say they should start recording this info. but still nothing is perfect so its a personal call. I looked up the average height of a 12 year old boy its 5 ft and 88 lbs so if he is that size or bigger i would say let him sit up front

[CyBeRjUnKiE]

Hey Boxgrover, congrats on your new vibe.

[21Rouge]

Quote, originally posted by russ257 »"Q: How did the agency determine that age 12 was the appropriate age below which children must be seated in the rear for maximum protection? Wouldn't height and weight be better determinants than age? A: All children are safest in the rear of a vehicle, regardless of their age or size. In recommending that children 12 and under never sit in the front seat of a vehicle which is equipped with a passenger air bag, the agency reviewed all crashes in which children were killed due to impacts from the air bag. While height and weight could be useful determinants of a child's safety in air bag-equipped vehicles, there are no known precise measurements that can be used that will guarantee that no injuries or fatalities will occur. Each vehicle is equipped with a unique air bag which will deploy with a different force. Thus, generalizations as to height and weight cannot be made. We do, however, know that children are safest in the rear of vehicles. If no option exists other than seating them in the front seat, several steps need to be taken. First, the child needs to be properly restrained. This means, depending on the size of the child, using a booster seat plus a lap/shoulder belt, or a lap/shoulder belt alone (for larger children). Second, the vehicle seat needs to be pushed all the way back, to maximize the distance between the child and the air bag. Third, the child needs to be sitting with his/her back against the seat back, not wiggling around or leaning forward, with as little slack as possible in the belt in order to minimize forward movement in a crash. "taken from:http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/peopl....htmlThanks very much for the reference. That Q is exactly the one my wife was asking.Ok I had my 10 year old (75 lbs) sit in the front passenger seat this morning with the car on. THe ON light in the Airbag display does *not* come on. I swapped him out with his 12 year older heavier brother and the ON light lights up. So does this imply that when the younger lighter boy is in the front seat it is as if there is no airbag? And does the light off mean both, ie front and side curtain airbag for the passenger side is not activated?

[04BlkVibe]

Take some pictures of your new Vibe!!!