My three year old son loves my new IROC. It is an '86 with no air bags and only lap belts in the rear. Jersey has this law that kids under 8 should be in the back seat, but this was written because of air bag fatalaties. Given this car has no air bags and no shoulder belt, is the front seat the appropriate place for him?

I will probably contact the State Police or DMV for clarification, just wondering if anyone knew off-hand the rules for older cars?

My 8 month old twins (if my wife ever allows them in the IROC) will go in the rear as soon as they are in front facing seats since their car seats have 5-point harrnesses.

 

The safest place for a child safety seat is in the center rear position. Okay, okay, I know you don't have a seatbelt in the center rear (at least I don't.) This place is the safest because it puts the child almost in the center of the vehicle, with the most space (crumple zones) around him.

I'm not sure I follow the lap belt issue. Isn't the child safety seat designed to accommodate either a lap-only, or lap-shoulder belt combo?

Now, since the law specifies the rear seat it sounds like you are stuck with the rear. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

The "car seats" can use only a lap belt since they have a 5-point harness built in. The "booster" seats use the cars native seatbelt and just reposition the child so the belt does not cause injury. If he were still in a car seat it would not be a problem.

*sigh*

Thanks for the reply )

 

Since my kids are 15 and 18, it's been awhile since I've heard anything about this issue. I guess the other issue is that in California the law was (and maybe still is) that any child under four years of age and forty pounds had to be in a child safety seat. So a booster seat satisifies the law's requirements?

I guess these booster seats are new (at least I don't remember them back when).

I have to agree with you that the lack of a three-point system in the rear seat is a major drawback and that you'd better get clarification.

Sorry I didn't help.

 

I think I know which booster seat you are talking about, if it is the high back booster that requires a 3 point belt to work properly, then you should in fact put him in the front seat or get him a booster that uses a lap belt only.

It would be in your best interest to contact the state police to confirm this. I will add that if the child is belted in securely and you are driving normaly, that a police officer will most likely allow this if your polite and give the reasons the child is in the front. This of course is if you get pulled over.

However, like I said earlier, it would be best to confirm this with the local law enforcement, in case you happen to run into a police officer having a bad day and picks you take it out on.