question about kids in vehicles being strangled by power windows..

[frylock]

not to sound insensitive, but shouldn't these kids be in car seats, or belted in? How is this happening at such a rate that my local news is running a piece on it?

[jtb33]

1. EXACTLY!

I completely agree. I think this was a non-issue and am amazed that this is even an "issue".

[lutherj]

2. I heard something on NPR about it yesterday. The incident rate is

something like once every 2 or 3 years. But I agree, why would you leave an unsupervised, unrestrained child in a running car?

[Wickerman]

3. From what I have heard

there have been less than 30 (IDR the actual number) in the last decade or two.

They are really needless deaths. The cars are usually not mobile. The kid is left unattended briefly, leans out the window and places his/her knee on the switch that controls the window. The window rolls up and strangles the kid, cutting off his air intake as well as his ability to cry out.

The radio report i heard told of a mother who got out of her car after shopping and happened to look behind her before going into the house - her son had done that to himself and she didn't even hear it. She was a nurse and was able to revive him.

The piece is running now because it will be a standard safety feature to have window locks on cars by 2007 - just announced.

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. This is truely odd.

Now, I am a gearhead, but I own no foreign cars with power windows. On my domestic sedans, one must have the key on for the power windows to work. Also, the cars have a window lock on the driver's door, so that the driver can turn off the other passenger's window switches.

So, do any of you have cars with power windows that work when the key is off or out?

I can see a sitch where the key is in the accessory position so the child can listen to the radio, but one should never assume that the child will do so while sitting still. Children seldom sit still when unobserved.

Also, one must never leave a small child unattended in a car. If the child is so young that he/she might get up and kneel on the arm rest and actuate the power window, that child is too young to be left in the car.

[frylock]

5. my grand prix will ('98 gtp)..

the windows will roll up or down after removing the key, but only until someone opens a door. As soon as a door is opened, the windows stop.

[NoBorders]

6. this CANNOT happen in most foreign cars

at least japanesae ones--because of the position of the toggle switch for the windows. You have to pull UP on the switch to close the window. Thus, a kid standing on the switch with his/her head out the window would never get strangled. Sadly, for some reason, many US cars have the back/forth toggler that allows this to happen. Not sure why they haven't swithed (no pun intended). I have 2 kids and 2 hondas, and don't have to worry about this!