On May 7, 2015, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law that amended NJ’s child restraint law. This new law takes effect on September 1, 2015.
We know that legal jargon is very confusing so here is the updated New Jersey carseat and booster seat law in plain English:
Children under the age of 8 (through age 7) are legally required to ride in the back seat* as follows:
- Under age 2 (0-23 months) and weighing less than 30 pounds are required to use a rear-facing carseat with a 5-point harness. This means a convertible used in the rear-facing position or an infant seat. (Note: Most babies will outgrow an infant carrier before their 2nd birthday and will need to transition to a convertible seat used in the rear-facing position. Unless you start off with a convertible seat from birth and then there is no need to transition to a bigger rear-facing seat.)
- Age 2 through age 3 (24-47 months) secured in a carseat with 5-point harness either rear-facing (until reaching the weight or height limit) or forward-facing. Having a 3-year-old in just a booster seat is not legal unless they weigh more than 40 lbs.
- Age 4 through age 7 (48 months until 8th birthday) and less than 57 inches tall (4’9″) secured in a forward-facing carseat with 5-point harness or a booster seat. There is no weight requirement in this updated law – only age and height requirements. (Note: If you have an older child who weighs more than 80 lbs. and you’re having a hard time finding a booster seat that they actually still fit in – consider a Safety 1st Incognito Kid Positioner. It’s specifically designed for bigger, older kids.)
- Age 8 through 17 shall wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat belt
Exemptions:
* If there are no rear seats (e.g., standard cab pickup truck), the child shall be secured in a carseat or booster in the front passenger seat except that no child shall be secured in a rear-facing carseat in the front seat of any motor vehicle which is equipped with a passenger-side airbag that is not disabled or turned off.
Full text of the new law can be found here: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2014/Bills/A3500/3161_R1.PDF
A 5 year old child, who is extremely tall at 57″, can ride in the front seat with a properly fitted and buckled seat belt. The law does not require a booster seat (unless under 8 AND under 57″), but the seat belt must fit properly. Which it should if the child is really that tall, or else they should use a booster. That’s the law in plain english, not my opinion.
Please see my comments above.
My son is 10 and 57” can he legally sit in the front seat in the state of nj?
This site has some errors. The author has not clearly interpreted the law. Only children less than 8, or less than 57 inches, are covered by the child seat law (and MUST sit in the rear seat). Yes your child at 57″ can sit in the front seat, with a properly fitted and buckled seat belt.
If someone has a 6 year old that grows fast to 57″, they can sit in the front seat properly buckled. That’s the law, read it yourself from NJ Legislature site Title 39:3-76.2a.
Also see the FAQ on NJ.gov, it describes a 7 year old 58″ child, and states no booster required by law. This is the law, not my opinion. It’s so confusing, there is no law grandmothers transporting multiple children can prove the age / weight restrictions to a police officer. Completely ridiculous and overbearing. 90% of NJ parents could not site the 2 year 30 pound, 4 year 40 pound, AND 8 year 57″ regulations EVER, nevermind respond to an officer with all the stats under the stress of a traffic stop.
I have to disagree with you; the law has been interpreted correctly. A 57″ boy is at the 95th percentile when he’s just over age 9. I won’t say there aren’t any kids out there who aren’t that tall at that age because certainly there have been 8′ tall men, but let’s just say they’re the anomalies. Regardless, we’ve never seen an average child under age 11 who doesn’t need a booster seat.
My question to you is what is your issue with a small child sitting in the front seat? You’re clearly frustrated with the law. Why do you want a 6 yr old with 6 yr old bones sitting in the front seat near an airbag? The front seat is closer to the majority of impacts and the airbag deploys at nearly 200 mph. Every vehicle has warning labels on the visor, owner’s manual, and glove compartment warning that children under age 13 shouldn’t sit in the front seat. Laws are usually written to provide minimum protection to citizens, not best protection.
So, question.
For a 5 year old under 57 inches tall it is either:
1. Forward Facing 5 point car seat.
OR
2. Booster seat which utilizes the cars built-in seat belt
Correct? Just want to make sure I am reading that right.
That is correct!
My daughter is 14 months old. She hasn’t been RF for about 4 months now. She is a very huge baby. 37lbs and 36in tall, she is as big as many three year olds. Her current car seat goes up to 40 or 50lbs, I cannot remember but with most of them maxing out at 40, I feel like I’m going to have a tough time finding something to hold her until booster seat time. She grew out of her infant seat by 6-7 months old and I had to put her in a convertible one and she then outgrew the recommendations for RF around 1!
Hi Haley – you might want to double check her weight. Even for huge kids, it’s highly unlikely that she weighs 37 lbs at 14 months old. That is just so far off the charts that I suspect an error. However, with that said, check the rear-facing weight limit of the seat you have (assuming it’s a convertible and not a forward-facing only seat). Most convertibles are rated to 40 lbs. in the rear-facing position. As for “finding something to hold her until booster seat time” – the good news is that you have a LOT of options in all different price ranges. The Evenflo SureRide is probably the least expensive option that would last her until around age 5/6 when she could safely transition to a booster seat. HTH!
So if my daughter is 6 years only 47″ about about 45 lbs can she use a standard booster seat with regular seat belt or do u need to get her a 5 point harness?
Shannon – if she is mature enough to stay properly seated in her booster then it’s fine. A booster seat is both safe and legal for a 6-year-old who weighs over 40 lbs.
Im sorry but my 3 year old was a preemie and only 25lbs and WAY TO TALL for a rear facing car seat. What are moms like me supposed to do
Lee James, many new carseats have very tall height limits for rear-facing, far beyond what was available a few years ago. Here are some of the options: https://carseatblog.com/31265/best-convertible-carseats-for-extended-rear-facing-the-definitive-guide-for-savvy-shoppers/
i understand that kids should be safe in the vehicle. perhaps the asses on the road who are too busy with their cell phones, eating, radio station changing and plain carelessness should change also. if the drivers would pay attention then there would be less accidents and less harm to the car’s occupants. where the hell are the parents with no extra money or charge cards supposed to these seats? yes, a wonderful idea but still, shouldn’t the idiots on the roads pay more attention.
JPK- this has nothing to do with raising children. This has everything to do with keeping them alive so the parent can raise them as they choose. According to the CDC, in 2013, the most recent data available, car crashes remain the #1 cause of death for kids ages 1-8 years old. Car crashes cause more fatal injuries to this age group than homicide, infectious diseases, drowning, suffocation or any other cause of unintentional injury. In fact, car crashes kill more kids than the flu, falls, burns, unintentional firearm discharge, electrocution and poisoning COMBINED. Virtually no parent would intentionally leave toxic household chemicals, handguns or matches within easy access of a toddler. Many parents opt to get flu shots for young kids and babyproof their houses with things like stairway barriers and electric outlet covers. So why wouldn’t they also want to transport their children in the safest possible manner? I can appreciate that this shouldn’t be something that is legislated, and that is a valid debate. On the other hand, there is no doubt that without such laws, most parents would not know about or would simply ignore the safest practice advice of the American Academy of Pediatricians and other injury prevention and traffic safety organizations. Over 600 kids between 1 and 8 died in 2013 from a car crash. Many were preventable by simply following such advice. Maybe that doesn’t seem like many, but even one preventable death is a huge number if that one was your child or one you knew.
the chances of a police officer ticketing me for having my 18 month old FF is slim to none. Plus I’ll tell them she is over 2.
I will not turn her back around. She screamed bloody murder when she was RF and now that she is FF, she is as happy as can be. It is NOT safe for me to drive with her screaming and crying.
Christie is a fool and needs to stop trying to tell ppl how to raise their children.
My son is 7 and no longer in a booster seat. Oh well.
I’m confused… this law seems to say “Age 4 through … 8th birthday AND less than 57 inches tall (4’9″)… must user booster” … My daughter is 10 and under 57 inches. I read this law to mean because she is over 8, she is NOT required to use a booster. (As it happens, we have yet to let her out of a booster and will keep her in a booster until she can sit without a booster AND have the shoulder belt fit correctly.) Is that it? Once they turn 8yo there is no further requirement to use a booster? Regardless of height or weight? Since we use the booster anyway… I’m concerned to fully understand the law for other children who frequently drive with us… their parents often wave off the booster seat issue…. but if the law says it’s required for their kid, then I would insist those children a booster in my car.
Hi Kristine – you are correct. Once a child reaches the age of 8 they are no longer legally required to use a booster seat in NJ. For older kids, the updated law is very similar to the current law in NJ – they just dropped the weight requirement for exemption (80 lbs.) and added a height exemption (57″) instead. Of course that doesn’t mean that a child is actually safe in the car. It just means that the driver can’t get a ticket for having a kid 8 or older riding in just the adult seatbelt it in NJ. As the driver, you are ultimately [and legally] responsible for the safety of everyone inside your vehicle regardless of whether or not they are related to you. You can be ticketed and sued if they are injured – even if their parents told you they didn’t need a carseat or a booster. As a parent of two older kids – I have dealt with this issue many times over the years and it comes down to “your car, your rules”. Be prepared to insist on booster seats if they are needed. And if the parents can’t/won’t provide them, then be prepared to provide them yourself. Good luck!
Bravo to Christie for making a bold move to protect our children and not cowering to the masses with knee jerk reactions who haven’t done their research. However, I don’t understand the booster laws. It makes me sick to see all the 8 year olds riding unsafely and I have yet to see one fit an adult seat belt. RE: first post, I doubt this will be enforced, but how many times do parents use the law as an excuse not to have their child riding properly and how many believe that following the bare minimum allowed by the law is equivalent to following the recommendations (even though the time it takes to pass laws means the laws will probably always fall well behind the research).
How much did Chris Christie take in bribes, from the car seat makers, to sign this law?
6-7 years old is way to old for a booster seat.
@Mark D – NJ has required kids under the age of 8 to ride in boosters for over a decade so this isn’t something new – they are just tweaking their current V&T law to keep up with the current information, injury statistics and recommendations from the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics). You can see the current law in NJ here: http://www.nj.gov/lps/hts/childseats/childseats_newlaw.html
Please do some research before taking your child out of a booster prematurely. A belt that does not fit causes serious injuries, including fatalities, in otherwise survivable crashes. Please spend the $10 to save your child’s life. Please. Your child is worth it.
I have booster seats, it is just no longer viable to use them, as they have outgrown them
Marc – check out the link in the article to the “Incognito” Kid-Positioner. My 10 year old son is over 100 lbs. and fits comfortably in the Incognito. It’s designed for bigger kids who still need a little boost to help the adult seatbelt to fit properly.
So it seems that most states have top limit ages on booster seats between 5-7 and NJ just happens to be one with the higher limit, at this point I can only assume that NJ lies on legilate end of the spectrum whereas other states leave it to the parents discretion. Considering Chris Christies record, I want to know how much he was paid?
See link below. Most states, like NJ, have child restraint laws that cover kids through age 7 (up until their 8th birthday). A few like FL and AK are still way behind the pack. Truthfully, even the NY and NJ laws are still woefully inadequate when it comes to establishing bare minimums for the safety of our older kids in motor vehicles. I suspect we will see those age requirements increasing across the board in the next decade. There are VERY few 8-year-olds who are the size of a small adult and actually fit safely in the adult seatbelt without some sort of a “boost”. http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/laws/safetybeltuse
You say age 6-7 is too old for a booster and that your kids have outgrown your boosters. May I ask what booster seat you have that a 6 year old would have outgrown? I can’t think of any recommended option that a 6 year old would outgrow and there are so many they would still fit, many of which cost little money. I have a pile of inexpensive options just for friends to ride with us.
This is a a stupid change. You can take these r.f. seats for 2 year old kids and shove it. I don’t care what they say it’s no sager then a f.f. if installed properly. These kids look ridiculous all smashed up kicking the seat. How is it we survived in the 70s, 80, and part of the 90s without these stupid laws and kids lived. Stop being so over protective. I agree with the other poster. Start ticketing the idiot who drives with a dog in their lap, or putting on make up, we are raising a bunch of wimps
@g.t. – you are entitled to think the new law is stupid but your logic is flawed. “How is it we survived in the 70s, 80, and part of the 90s without these stupid laws and kids lived.” Do I really need to point out that we lost a lot of kids and a lot of adults back then? We still lose a lot of kids and adults today but it’s not as bad as it was in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/child_passenger_safety/cps-factsheet.html
On the other hand, I totally agree with ticketing drivers with dogs on their laps and those putting on makeup, etc.
g.t., actually it is against NJ’s animal cruelty law to drive with your animals unrestrained in the vehicle. They are ticketing for that.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/new-jersey-drivers-buckle-pets-face-fine-article-1.1090567
My twins been over 28-30 lbs since they were 7 months and outgrew their infant seats by 5 months. It was crazy because it said up to 65lbs but literally their legs had nowhere to go. Nobody was going to cram their legs and face rear when there’s car seats front faced and comfortable to properly fit and accommodate over grown babies. I understand the concern, but when dealing with big young ones, that’s a parents judgement call. The car seat is secured with a seat belt plus a hook attachment from the car itself to the car seat. Am I wrong ?
@Ms. Green – the issue of what to do with a child’s legs and if it’s uncomfortable or unsafe in any way is a very common concern. However, rear-facing carseats do a much better job protecting the head, neck and spinal cord. And those are the types of devastating injuries that cannot be fixed by wearing a cast for a few weeks. Unfortunately there is a lot of data from crashes over the last 25 years that proves that one year olds don’t fare well in crashes when they are forward-facing. Please take a few minutes to read this, watch the video from Dr. Marilyn Bull and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you still have after: https://carseatblog.com/28978/mythbusting-legs-bent-or-feet-touching-the-backseat-when-rear-facing-is-dangerous/
I did and my kid loved it! My 98th height % kid rear faced until past her 3rd birthday. When I had to turn her forward facing because she reached the limits of every option I had, she asked to turn back rear facing because she preferred it. It’s actually more supportive, easier to sleep, and more comfortable in many ways for kids. Many people project discomfort onto the kid instead of asking them what they prefer. And they’re up to 500% safer. It’s a win win.
Exemptions:
* If there are no rear seats (e.g., standard cab pickup truck), the child shall be secured in a carseat or booster in the front passenger seat except that no child shall be secured in a rear-facing carseat in the front seat of any motor vehicle which is equipped with a passenger-side airbag that is not disabled or turned off.
Does this mean that if I have a car that that has only has 2 seats and a passenger side airbag that doesnt have any way of being shut off that the child would have to be over 8 just to be a passenger in NJ? What if you are just driving through from another state that has a lower age restrictions. In Florida it used to be as long as the child was over age 4 they didnt need to be in a carseat.
Hi Dave – It means that you could not put a REAR-FACING carseat in a 2-seater vehicle that has no reliable way to shut off the airbag. Forward-facing kids (over age 2) in a 5-point harness seat and older kids in booster seats would be allowed. You NEVER want to put a rear-facing carseat in the front seat with an active frontal airbag because it will kill the child if the airbag goes off. Sensor systems are not considered reliable. You want to be able to deactivate the airbag in a reliable manner (key, switch, etc.). If that’s not possible – keep rear-facing kids out of that vehicle. HTH!