Front Kick, called Stopping (ストッピング Sutoppingu) in Japan, was first introduced in Tekken 3 as part of Bryan Fury's moveset. Front Kick has had an ever increasing number of chains added to it, and is even the first part of Bryan's 10 hit strings.
When to use
By itself, Front Kick is just a basic high range kick with no properties. This move is valuable because of its many chain possibilities, making Front Kick ideal for mix-ups, juggles, and wall splats. Still, it is a high range attack and isn't very fast, so it wouldn't be wise to overuse this move in normal situations (especially against pokers).