Every state has some sort of child passenger safety law, which requires that a child stay in a car seat until a certain age or weight. All car seats or other child restraint devices must be approved by the federal government, and children who are older are required to wear seat belts in the car. These laws are not meant to be a nuisance, but a life-saving precaution. In most states, a child restraint law is primary, meaning that a police officer can pull over a car when the driver does not adhere to the law. In Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, some children are under a secondary enforcement law, meaning that the police must have an additional reason to stop the vehicle.
In most states, a child must be over seven years old to avoid a child restraint such as a car seat or a booster seat. Florida has the lowest child-restraint law, which only requires that children ages three and under be placed in a restraint while in a car. Wyoming and Tennessee are on the other extreme end of this law, and require that all children eight and under are placed in some sort of car seat or booster seat. While the child restraint laws vary from state to state, they are all present to keep children safe from debilitating or fatal injuries in case of a collision.
In almost all states, a child is not permitted to ride in the front seat of a car, especially if he or she needs to be in a car seat or booster seat. This is because the air bags in the front seat have the force to break a child's neck in the case of a crash. In California there are some exceptions to this rule. If your vehicle has no rear seats, for the rear seats are side facing jump seats, then the child can be placed in the front seat instead. Also, if your child restraint system cannot be installed in the rear seat, or children under 12 occupy all the rear seats, then the child may be allowed to sit in the front.
Whenever you are confronted with a situation where your car has no back seat and you need to transport an infant, you may be able to put him or her in the front in a rear facing car seat. This is only permitted in some states if you can switch off the air-bag capabilities on your car. If your car has side-impact air bags in the back seat, then make sure that children in booster seats or seat belts don't lean against the door while you are driving. These side impact airbags don't normally shoot out far, so you needn't worry about your children in car seats being harmed by them.
According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Association, infants and children through one-year old must be in a rear-facing car seat. There are plenty of different rear-facing car seats to choose from with a lot of different capabilities. Many baby stores offer rear-facing infant car seats as well as convertible car seats which can face to the rear while the child is small, and transition to a front facing car-seat later on. Your car seat manufacturing manual, as well as some stickers on car seats, will let you know when your child is too large to be in a rear-facing car seat. Once your child reaches a certain weight limit, you will want to place him or her in a forward-facing car seat with a safety harness.
Once a child outgrows his or her forward-facing car seat, place him or her in a booster. After the minor graduates from this seat, he or she will be allowed to sit in a regular seat, with a seat belt. Consult your local highway patrol for more information on car seat laws in your state. If you have a malfunctioning car seat, then you may have a personal injury case on your hands. Most of the time these restraint devices were carefully manufactured by the companies according to strict federal standards, but mistakes do happen, and if you believe that your child's injury was not your fault then you should confront the company with a personal injury lawsuit. Also, if someone was transporting your child and did not adhere to the safety precautions set in state law, to the detriment of your child, then you should contact a personal injury attorney. You deserve to be compensated for the injuries your child received as a result of someone else's negligence.