I remember being able to lay down in the back seat not in a car seat when my brother and I were young kids as well as being able to sit in the front seat. We always argued over who got “shotgun”
Now there are places where I can’t leave my dog in the bed of my vehicle when I have a cap on it. It is an all white vehicle with a white cap. It gets a few degrees hotter in there than it is outside. I left the back window of the cap open for him one time while playing at the park with my dd and got hassled by the cops.
A year or so back we had a local case where police were called because a 12 year old was sitting in a car alone listening to the radio while her dad was inside the house taking a nap.