My child is too old for a child seat. That is the safest place. If no option exists other than seating them in the front seat, several steps need to be taken. First, the child needs to be properly restrained. Second, the vehicle seat needs to be pushed all the way back, to maximize the distance between the child and the air bag.
All children are safest in the rear of a vehicle, regardless of their age or size.
In recommending that children 12 and under never sit in the front seat of a vehicle which is equipped with a passenger air bag, the agency reviewed all crashes in which children were killed due to impacts from the air bag. While height and weight could be useful determinants of a child's safety in air bag-equipped vehicles, there are no known precise measurements that can be used that will guarantee that no injuries or fatalities will occur. Each vehicle is equipped with a unique air bag which will deploy with a different force. Thus, generalizations as to height and weight cannot be made. We do, however, know that children are safest in the rear of vehicles.