Pregnancy Calendar A daily record based on your due date. Air bags in cars can save lives, but a passenger airbag is dangerous to a baby on the front passenger seat in a rearward facing child seat. But RoSPA states that rearward-facing child seats must not be used in the front passenger seat if an airbag is fitted on the front passenger side. To be protective, an air bag must inflate almost instantly after a crash, so it is released from the dashboard very fast indeed, some experts say at 200 miles per hour. The clearest risk is to babies in rear-facing seats.
Air bags can also be dangerous for older children in the front seat.
Because children have weaker back, neck, and stomach muscles, as well as a head that is larger relative to their body size, it is harder for them to maintain an upright position in even a gentle collision. So they face a greater risk of coming face to face with the blunt force of the bag as it expands. In the UK it is illegal to put a child under 12 in the front passenger seat without the appropriate child restraint. Otherwise the safest spot is behind the driver. If the front passenger seat has an air bag, under no circumstances place a rearward-facing infant car seat in that spot, it is simply not a safe option.