Can he really be allowed to..........................

I don't know about PA, but there might be a height rule, or they might have the airbag turned off. The airbag is the danger for small children to ride in the front seat. Now, I've seen 12 yr olds who are taller than I am, and I've seen 16 yr olds that are only about 4 feet tall. If the child is a tall child, or the air bag is turned off, there may be no rule against it.

The plainest English I found says Drivers are responsible for themselves and to secure all children from 8 years of age up to 18 years of age in a seat belt system any where in the vehicle. I looked further & found http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_age_child_can_ride_in_car_seat_in_front_seat_in_PA This seems to contradict what the above says. I always thought it was determined by the height & weight of the person. My Mom was only 5'2" & it was recommended that she NOT ride in the front seat because the air bag would smack her direct in the face. According to these 2 items, they did nothing wrong. However, as my Dad always told me As long as you're living under my roof, you will abide by my rules & my rules state...(whatever he felt like saying). So, if you don't want him riding in the front seat, he wouldn't be riding in the front seat if he lived in my home!!! You're the Mom & it's your car!!! Hope this helped!!!

From what I read a child from 8 to 18 can set any where in the car. This is waht is on the web site. Drivers are responsible for themselves and to secure all children from 8 years of age up to 18 years of age in a seat belt system any where in the vehicle. Most of the 12 year olds that I know really aren't that small to be restricted to the back seat. Just how big is the 12 year old your talking about?

Doesn't it just depend on the size of the child? At the age of twelve I was 5'10, so obviously it was okay for me to ride in the front seat. But I remember riding in the front seat as young as six. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought it was all about the size. From the sound of it, your son shouldn't be in the front seat because he is small, right?

I don't believe there are laws that are explicit from state to state in reference to where you sit in a car. HOWEVER, the car manufacturers generally state 'it is SAFEST for any child 12 or under to sit in the BACK SEAT rather than a front passenger seat if there is an airbag which cannot be disabled. The manufacturer also cautions against putting any rear facing child seat in a front passenger seat UNLESS there is no rear seat and there is no airbag or it can be disabled. For instance - I have a front driver and passenger airbag. I do not and will not let my daughter, who is five and uses a booster - to sit in the front as I cannot disable the airbag and she is small. My husband though drives a two seater sports car with no airbag on the passenger side, and if she rides with him, we do put the booster in the front and she rides there. If we had a truck, we'd have to do the same thing. It just really depends what you drive and the options you have to work with. Obviously you want to be safe but there is such a thing as going overboard. I do feel that a parent would have final say over any other family member, so in your case YOUR wishes ought to be respected in regards to your son and the front seat of anybody's vehicle. My daughter has actually ridden in the front in a friend's car before too, but I made sure her airbag was disabled and the seat was scooted back.

I think that when it comes to children riding in the front seat, i am pretty old schooled as i believe that any child under the age of 16 should always be in the back seat, I believe this to be more safe for the child since most cars have air bags that deflate at a pretty high speed of rate and with such force can easily kill an adult, let alone a child.