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How Old Should Children Be Before Sitting in the Front Seat?

How Old Should Children Be Before Sitting in the Front Seat?

From Dong-A Ilbo · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Explainer Documents & data Context piece
  • South Korean law requires children under six to use child safety equipment but does not set a separate minimum age for front-seat passengers.
  • The government’s legal-information guidance recommends that children aged 13 or younger sit in the rear seat because front-seat airbags can seriously injure smaller children in a crash.

South Korea does not set a specific legal age for children to sit in a vehicle’s front seat. The Road Traffic Act instead requires children under six to use child safety equipment.

Government legal guidance recommends a more cautious rule: children aged 13 or younger should sit in the back seat. Smaller bodies face a greater risk of serious neck or facial injuries from an airbag that rapidly deploys during a collision.

Children aged 13 or younger should always sit in the rear seat of a car.

— Korean government legal-information guidanceThe guidance gives a safety recommendation beyond the law’s child-restraint requirement.
About this summary

Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.