front seat ?
Does anyone know the NJ law requirements for front seat passengers? My child is almost 11, weighs 105 pounds and is 4'8". She will remain in the backseat for the majority of the time with my other child- but on the rare occasion it is just the 2 of us in the car she has expressed interest in sitting up front. Thanks!!!!!!
Lucky Mom of 2 
Help I believe that the warning on your visor states that 12 and under should not sit in the front seat. Airbags can be deadly to a child. If you have one, you should keep your child in the back. It' s safer anyway, airbag or not.
From an online article:
Children are safer in a rear seating position, with or without an air bag. In more than 70 percent of the cases where a child in the front seat was killed in a crash, there was a vacant rear seating position available. If you are looking for a new car, select one with enough rear seating positions to hold the maximum number of children you drive.
maja Call the HPD...they will give you the most current and accurate information.
Even driving with your kids is complicated these days!
Gen3Townie It's arguably safer for all children to be in the back seat, but legally it's 8 years old. We happen to have a car that turns off the passenger airbag if the rider is too light, so we let them ride in the front.
http://www.nj.gov/oag/hts/seatbelts.html
trekster3 My son will be 13 in Nov, and has only recently started riding in the front seat. I feel that he's safer in the back. Is he? I don't really know, but I'm more comfortable with it. He rides in the back about 75% of the time. He's 5'1" and 90lbs. I agree with 12 being a good age, as per the precautions on the air-bags. That being said, whether or not an air bag can be turned off, I feel that anyone under 10 should just not be in the front. There's no need for it. Just my two cents...
Lori...since '73 
Calico696 I have heard that the front passenger seat is the most dangerous of all seats in a car. I would have my child sit in the back for as long as possible, regardless of age and size.
WWYou wait until they get their driving permit.. You’ll be sitting in passenger seat while your child drives.. You should let them see what types of jack offs on roads there are as soon as they can sit in front seat while you drive and make them pay attention. You can only protect them for so long..
BTW I have car that senses passenger too and it did activate with 5 gallons chlorine tablet tub in front seat (That only weighs 25~30lbs).
Razz 
Caged Animal Caged, if there is no back seat in a vehicle (sports car or truck) any child can sit in the front (with car seat, booster seat, etc.) as the law allows.
Agree with WW. Keep them in the back for as long as possible. There shouldn't be a rush to move them up. They are much safer in the back.
The front seat is danger to kids (and small adults) only because of the airbags. Early versions of airbags inflate with single-stage inflation with a constant force which was often too much force for a small person to bear. Newer cars now have occupancy size detection which can either reduce the force of inflation or deactivate the passenger airbag completely.
A child, per guidelines, should be 49" tall or 80lbs before you can get rid of the booster seat. The reasoning is so that, ironically, the child/person can withstand the force of being pushed against the seatbelt during a highspeed collision. On small people, the lap portion of the belt can be positioned near the abdomen and therefore cause internal injuries during accidents (this is also a reason why you should always use the should portion of the belt as well.)
emaxxman Ok - I just got to ask the people on this forum that are 35+ how old where you when you sat in the front seat of your parents car. Era 1976 and before.
Steve-0 @Steve-0
all the time execpt when there was two adults in the front , dad had soda trucks i rode in front with dad or in the middle of the seat if there was 3 of us in truck / I started driveing in 75 on the streets but drove befor i had a permit and raced on i80 befor full open to hackettstown i am so bad
andso steve-0 why ?
Caged - it just seems that this is just one more example of an overblown law that we as parents have all become consumed with and another example of us becomming a coddled society. Of course I will be blasted for this but really do we need a law for everything. Can't we all just use common sense to figure out how we need to live. Let the bashing begin. Yes caged I feel right into the bashing, I am just done with this over lawed society we live in. Let common sense prevail. It does work.
@steve-o are you ready for the bashing now ?
Well you will not get this from me on this one
we all just use common sense steve o they dont teach that any more
seat belts then air bags then laws for child seats then were kids can sit and so on and so on . when i was a kid mom dad and I would go out on the road in dads boyer town pannel truck i would ride in the back nd sleep and roll back snd forth with the load and i still am here .
steve do we need our hands held all the time no should there be guide lines for infants yes should there be check points for this no there should never be check points less they are looking for a dangerous person .
@ Steve-o
The question wasn't if you believed that the front seat rule was a good one or not. The question was what are the requirements.
There are lots of laws now a days that unfortunately need to be in place because of the stupid actions of too many. Having heard the horror stories of young children getting hurt in a car because they were not properly using the restraints that the car had available to them, I feel that in addition to having a parent be a parent and tell a child that this is your rule, it does not hurt to have the law to point out the common sense. At least then if a parent decides to have a child riding shot gun or a child in the back seat not buckled in, then they are aware that they will be held responsible if the child is hurt in an accident. If all that this does is make a parent stop and think about what they are doing... then that is fine by me.
Personally, I have been in accidents where it is for the seat belt that I was not more seriously hurt. That is enough for me to make sure that I teach my child to act responsibly in the car. The multiple news stories that even have hit our area of the world about kids in a car driving too fast and then having an accident with severe injuries or death by being thrown from a car still does not seem to deter other kids from acting stupid.
Just the other day, I was at Rock Spring Park and some young kids (new drivers) had pulled into the parking lot. They were walking behind me trying to act all cool and bragging how they did not wear seat belts to their friends. All I could think of was how stupid and careless and wonder if one day I would see their pictures in the paper after a terrible tradegy that could have been avoided.
So, the rules are the rules and if it saves your kid from being seriously hurt in an accident, then you will not be so against that rule.
Coralie Steve-O it seems like the law is not the case, the 'people' seem to impose stricter rules than the law allows. More power to 'em...
To answer the original question - The law is very clear under 8 or 80 lbs. must sit in the back -- over that 8 yrs. OR 80 lbs, Seat Belted regardless of where they sit in the car.
You have to wear seatbelts nowdays. The reason is because cars nowdays have airbags and they are made of cheap metal. I remember my dad’s Buick 1955 hit a bus once and we didn't feel anything.
Albert Fonseca New Jersey’s Child Passenger Law:
Children up to age 8 or 80 pounds must ride in a safety or booster seat in the rear seat of the vehicle. If there is no rear seat, the child must sit in the front seat secured by a child safety seat or booster seat.
Children under age 8 who weigh more than 80 pounds must wear a seat belt anywhere in the vehicle.
Passengers age 8 to 18 (regardless of weight ) mustwear a seat belt anywhere inside a vehicle
DON'T FORGET UP TO 8 OR 80 LBS MUST RIDE IN A SAFETY OR BOOSTER SEAT!!
mommyofjack When I was an infant, my mother use to put me and my brother too when he was an infant right on the front seat next to her and keep her hand on us. That was in the 1960's. Then came the invention of a belt for toddlers but it allowed the kid to stand up.
MY how things have changed. I can't imagine not having my kids buckled in now, law or not. I can't stand when I see an adult passenger riding with a child on their lap. I just imagine the kid's face either hitting the dash or going through the windshield.
I was friends with a girl who as a teen was sitting in the back middle seat of a trans am. The driver, her boyfriend was under the influence and struck a telephone pole. The girl went from the back seat throught the windshield and face first into the pole. She survived but needless to say she needed many surgeries and was never right in the head ever again. I started wearing my seatbelt after that.
jaemae Steve-O no bashing from me either. We are definitely over-lawed and what's worse is that some people feel it's necessary to dictate common sense to everyone.
As for keeping drivers and passengers and most importantly, our children safe, I don't see any safe seating in a Smart car. I'll trust the front seat of my big SUV any day!
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