PUB 269: California Child Passenger Safety Law and 2027 Changes

Under California child passenger safety law, children under 2 must ride in a rear-facing car seat, children under 8 must be in a car seat or booster in the back seat, and children ages 8 through 15 must be secured in a child restraint or a properly fitted seat belt. The rules come from California Vehicle Code sections 27360, 27360.5, and 27363, and the California Department of Social Services summarizes them in a reference sheet known as PUB 269.¹

Children Under 2 Must Ride Rear-Facing

Every child under two years old has to be secured in a rear-facing child passenger restraint system.² Two exceptions let a child move out of rear-facing before the second birthday: weighing 40 or more pounds, or standing 40 or more inches tall.³ Whichever seat you use, it has to stay within the manufacturer’s own height and weight limits. This rear-facing rule has been in effect since January 1, 2017.

One line never moves: a child in a rear-facing seat cannot sit in a front seat that has an active frontal passenger airbag.¹ That rule holds even if one of the front-seat exceptions below would otherwise apply.

Children Under 8 Must Be in a Car Seat or Booster in the Back

Children under eight have to be properly secured in a back seat in a child passenger restraint system that meets federal motor vehicle safety standards. In practice that means a forward-facing car seat with a harness or a booster seat.¹

Two carve-outs let a shorter-of-eight child skip the booster. A child who is already 4 feet 9 inches tall may use a regular seat belt. And a child over 40 pounds riding in a back seat that only has a lap belt (no shoulder belt) may use the lap belt alone.⁴

Children 8 Through 15 Must Be Properly Belted

Children between 8 and 15 must be secured either in a child restraint or by a safety belt that meets federal standards.¹ PUB 269 describes a proper belt fit as the lap portion crossing the hips or upper thighs and the shoulder portion crossing the chest in front of the occupant. If a child in this age range doesn’t fit that way, a booster is still legally sufficient and often safer.⁵

When a Child Under 8 Can Ride in the Front Seat

The back-seat rule has defined exceptions. A child under eight may ride up front, still properly restrained, in any of these situations:⁴

The vehicle has no rear seat.
The rear seats are side-facing jump seats or rear-facing seats that can’t accept a child restraint.
A child restraint can’t be properly installed in any rear seating position.
Every rear seat is already occupied by children seven or younger.
A medical condition requires front-seat seating; a court may ask for documentation.

Even with one of these exceptions, the airbag rule still bars a rear-facing restraint in front of an active frontal passenger airbag.⁶

Emergencies and Court-Granted Exemptions

In a life-threatening emergency, or in an authorized emergency vehicle with no restraint available, a child must at least be secured by a seat belt.¹ A court may also grant an individual exemption when a child’s physical condition, weight, or size makes a restraint impractical and no appropriate special-needs restraint exists.⁴

Fines, Points, and Who Gets the Ticket

Violating the child passenger safety law is an infraction. The base fine is $100 for a first offense and $250 for each later offense, but once fees and assessments are added, the total can exceed $500.⁷ A conviction adds one point to the driver’s record, which counts toward a negligent-operator classification if more points pile up.⁶

If a parent or legal guardian is riding in the vehicle, the citation goes to the parent rather than the driver.² Courts often refer cited drivers to local car seat education programs.

What Changes on January 1, 2027

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 435 in October 2025, with an effective date of January 1, 2027.⁸ The bill replaces the current two-part belt-fit definition for children 8 through 15 with a five-step test. To consider a child properly restrained by a safety belt, a driver will need to confirm all five:⁹

The child is sitting all the way back against the vehicle seat.
The child’s knees bend comfortably over the edge of the seat.
The shoulder belt crosses the center of the chest and shoulder, not the neck.
The lap belt sits as low as possible, resting on the thighs rather than the stomach.
The child can stay in this position for the entire trip.

A driver who can’t confirm all five may face a $490 fine.⁸ The law, authored by Assemblymember Lori Wilson, also extends certain restraint requirements to children on chartered buses but does not change the rules for school buses.¹⁰ An earlier draft would have banned children under 13 from the front seat and required boosters for older children who failed the test; that version was scaled back. The existing booster requirement for children under 8 or under 4 feet 9 inches stays the same.

Help Paying for a Car Seat

Families who can’t afford a child restraint can turn to local programs funded through the California Office of Traffic Safety using federal NHTSA grant money. The OTS runs a county-by-county directory called “Who’s Got Car Seats?” that lists hospitals, fire departments, police departments, and community organizations offering low-cost purchase, loaner, and installation help.¹¹ As one example, Sacramento County’s program distributed more than 400 car seats and assisted over 1,300 caregivers in 2025 through a partnership between the county public health department and Dignity Health.¹²

1
California Department of Social Services. PUB 269 – California Child Passenger Safety Law
2
FindLaw. California Vehicle Code Section 27360
3
California Office of Traffic Safety. Child Passenger Safety
4
FindLaw. California Vehicle Code Section 27363
5
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. California Car Seat Laws
6
Orange County Health Care Agency. California Laws – Keep Your Child Safe in the Car
7
California Department of Public Health. Child Safety Brochure
8
CalMatters. California Seat Belt Law
9
CalMatters Digital Democracy. AB 435
10
LegiScan. AB 435 – Vehicles: Child Passenger Restraints
11
California Office of Traffic Safety. Who’s Got Car Seats?
12
Sacramento County. Free Car Seat Program Protects Children