A US woman let her daughter ride in a box on top of her van.

A woman from Alabama has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child after police claimed she would allow her 13-year-old daughter to sit in a cardboard box on the roof of the vehicle.

Sergeant Jamie Smith said the Albertville Police received a call to complain about a child sitting on top a moving minivan as it sped down a state highway.

The woman reportedly told officers the box wouldn't fit inside her vehicle and her daughter decided to sit inside to stop it from blowing off the roof.

The 37-year-old woman claimed her daughter was safe because the box was being held on in place by a coat hanger.