My son just had his 13th birthday on December 31st. Yep, a New Year’s Eve baby. We tried to get him to hold off to be the first baby 
born in Y2K, but he wouldn’t have anything to do with that, so the 31st it was. He’s always been a big kid: he came 3 weeks early and was 8 lbs. 5 oz., and was 40 lbs. at 3 years old, which back then was a big deal. He was never squishy fat, though (mmmm, except for his baby thighs); he was solid as a rock. Eventually J started thinning out and we actually worried about him being too thin, lol. He’s now 5’5.5″ (no, I’m not allowing him to catch up to my 5’6″ just yet) and around 92 lbs. So he’s big enough finally to sit in the front seat, right?
I guess so. The warnings in cars and on visors say that kids 12 and under should sit in the back and he *is* over 12 now. He had a couple of rides to school from his dad this past semester in the front seat because it was the only open seat; we carpool younger kiddos to school. It was a poorly kept secret from me: Giggle giggle giggle. “Guess how I got to school today, mom?” Giggle giggle giggle. But what could I do? It was raining and I wasn’t pulling my sorry butt out of my soft, warm bed at 7:15a to give him a ride when there was a car conveniently going right by his school ;). I know, bad CPS Tech. So slap me.
A day before his birthday, I wanted to get him off his computer, so I bribed J to go to the store with me. In a sing-song voice, I called to him, “Want to go to the store with me?”
“No!”
“I’ll let you ride in the front seat.”
Next thing I hear is a teen’s large feet clomping down the stairs. Glad I know what makes him tick! The whole 5 minute ride to the store was awkward at best. It was just weird having my son sitting next to me, hearing his voice from *next* to me, instead of coming from behind me. He rode home in the front seat, but I told him that was the last time for a while that he’s sitting in the front. *I’m* not ready for it. He knows the statistics—that he’s 40% more likely to be injured in the front seat—and he’s my safety kid so he tends to do what’s safest anyway. He’s still going to ride in the front seat when he’s alone with dh because he wants to be like dad, but I’m not going to sweat that. He’s old enough now, he’s big enough, and he’s less likely to be leaning out of position in the front. It’s just another sign that my kids are growing up way too fast.
Belated happy b-day, J!
I can’t imagine my kids in the front seat before they start Driver’s training – am still getting used to the realization that the smaller of my 11YO twins now passes the 5-step test in the back of our ’97 Civic so I am now driving a car that has *no* boosters (but at least it still has an 86Y in the rear-center with the lap belt so I’m not completely without some measure of car seat geekiness;-))
For what it’s worth, I think the best research minds in this field regard the 2005 Newgard study as far less compelling than the Partners for Child Passenger Safety study that pointed to age 13. The 2005 study involved 3790 child occupants, versus 875,000 over 8 years for PCPS. Newgard’s results did not reach statistical significance — it says so right in the abstract. PCPS is *the* strongest and largest source of data we have in this field. As advocates, we want to tell people the right things to do, and that means really understanding the evidence.
But my car gets 4 stars for the front passenger seat in crash tests and I’m a safe driver ;). Vehicle safety seemed so stagnant for so long, and now, just in the 13 years I’ve been aware, we keep finding evidence that pushes our thinking of what’s been safe for year. And they said that techs would become obsolete when LATCH became mainstream, ROFLMAO!
My son will be 16 in 16 days, has his learner’s permit and I *STILL* freak out about having him in the front seat. Unlike your J, my R was always on the tiny side. I am not exaggerating when I say that he finally passed the 5 step test less than a year before he was eligible for his permit to start driving!
I told him that he could start sitting up front as soon as he was eligible for that permit, but he wasn’t heavy enough to activate the passenger side airbag (at 15 years old!). He finally hit the 100 lb mark this past August, and right now his driving time is limited because to reach the pedals he has to sit a little too close to the steering wheel for my comfort (he’s right at that 1-ft mark).
I remember fighting over the front seat with my older brother when I was four, so we’ve definitely come a long way. For CPS-passionate people like us, moving to the front seat is definitely one of those hard milestones to swallow.
Jennie, I considered that too when I looked at the study period. But second gen depowered airbags were mandated in 1998 so it’s hard to guess if the majority of crashed vehicles they looked at in that study had 1st gen frontal airbags or not. I’d like to think that overall, newer vehicles are safer for young teens and small adults in the front seat than older vehicles. But I’m not convinced that’s entirely true based on the crash tests results of the 5th percentile female dummy in recent NHTSA NCAP crash tests. I’m not sure how much airbag deployment and interaction has to do with those poor 2 star ratings but it does make you wonder….
Just to play devil’s advocate: That study looked at data from 1995 to 2002, meaning that the majority of cars had 1st-generation airbags, which were known to be deadly/damaging to smaller occupants based on how forcefully they deployed. Advanced airbags (and the quasi-generation in between) are supposed to have addressed those issues. I think IIHS recently (within the past two years) had a study showing that AABs have indeed improved protection for children and small adults. I imagine that teens are much safer in the front seat now than they were ten years ago. Not that I’m looking forward to it myself 😉
And happy birthday!
Thanks, Kecia! I don’t know how I missed that study (or others)! Have to show Matt. This brings up an interesting thought for me, though. Last November I attended a pedestrian safety breakout session where we discussed how children are being driven everywhere instead of walking like back in the day; therefore, the kids are losing the ability to judge the speed of oncoming cars as they go to cross the street. So it makes me wonder if by keeping kids in the back seat until they’re well into their teens, we’ll be producing a whole generation of poor drivers who won’t have that depth perception/speed judgment. Of course, it’s hard to tell if they’ll be bad because of that or because of distraction or because of immature brain development (as has always been the case), but makes me wonder.
Oh, I almost forgot – HAPPY BELATED 13th BIRTHDAY, J!!! 🙂
This quote from the above link describes why researchers think age may be a better indicator of risk than the kid’s weight and/or height:
Child developmental changes associated with puberty may provide one explanation for these findings. Although there is variation in the timing and duration of puberty among children, the onset of puberty typically occurs at 11 years of age among girls and 13 years among boys. There are increases not only in weight and height but also in body composition, including lean body mass, bone mineral content, and bone density (bone mass), during puberty. In addition, age has been shown to be a better determinant of pubertal development than anthropometric measurements. If changes in body composition and bone mass during early puberty play a role in susceptibility to injury from air bags in MVCs, it may not be surprising to demonstrate age as a better discriminator for risk of injury than height or weight. Despite the differences in onset of puberty between boys and girls, we did not find gender to be a significant effect modifier.
Effects of Child Age and Body Size on Serious Injury From Passenger Air-Bag Presence in Motor Vehicle Crashes
http://www.pediatricsdigest.mobi/content/115/6/1579.full
Conclusions. Children up to 14 years of age may be at risk for serious preventable injury when seated in front of a passenger air bag, and children 15 to 18 years of age seem to experience protective effects of air-bag presence and deployment. Age may be a better marker than height or weight for risk assessment regarding children and air bags.
I wasn’t ready to let my oldest son start riding in the front seat at 13 either. Plus, like J, he was tall but skinny and still under 100 lbs. In my Ford minivan the airbag sensor is clearly set to disable the frontal passenger airbag for anyone who weighs less than 100 lbs. I took that as a clear sign that he shouldn’t be riding up front yet, at least not in that vehicle. By the time he was 14 he had packed on some real weight and I started letting him sit up front more often. I agree that it was weird and it took a while to get used to seeing him sitting next to me. I also agree that there is at least one large compelling study that I’m aware of that showed that frontal airbags didn’t have a protective benefit (they tended to harm more than protect) kids under the age of 15 – regardless of body size. Let me go find that study and post a link…
I’ve seen several studies supporting 15. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 😉