According to www.nhtsa.gov/airbags, 12 years old is the appropriate age at which it is safe for kids to sit in the front seat with air bags. Clearly, this is some sort of generalization since not all 12 year olds are the same height or weight.
I'm wondering what height or weight that number really corresponds to. My own daughter is in the 25% percentile of height for 12 year olds. She's 4'9.5". (For completeness, she's 93 lbs.)
Interestingly, I see the NHTSA uses a height of 4'8" as the cutoff for "short adults" in their writings. For example, the say that as long as drivers sit 10" away from the steering wheel, then adults 4'8" to 5'5" are safe. Alas, their discussion of adequacy for the passenger side is rather lacking.
I searched on airbags through google and found that there is a fair amount of controversy over the effectiveness of airbags in a variety of ways. I'm not trying to open up that debate.
I'm wondering what height or weight that number really corresponds to. My own daughter is in the 25% percentile of height for 12 year olds. She's 4'9.5". (For completeness, she's 93 lbs.)
Interestingly, I see the NHTSA uses a height of 4'8" as the cutoff for "short adults" in their writings. For example, the say that as long as drivers sit 10" away from the steering wheel, then adults 4'8" to 5'5" are safe. Alas, their discussion of adequacy for the passenger side is rather lacking.
I searched on airbags through google and found that there is a fair amount of controversy over the effectiveness of airbags in a variety of ways. I'm not trying to open up that debate.