Power Window Dangers

Most parents are unaware that the power windows in their automobiles can kill or injure young children. Typically, the child has his or her head out the window of a parked car and accidentally leans on the window switch mounted horizontally on the armrest. Power windows can exert up to 80 pounds of pressure—enough to choke a child, or break arms or fingers. Initially a luxury item, power windows are on 80 percent of the vehicles sold today.

Groups
Auto safety and consumer groups are pressuring U.S. automakers and the government to change the design of power window switches to safeguard children.


Kids and Cars, a safety advocate group, and Consumers Union are asking automakers to voluntarily improve the safety features of power windows, but will move to petition federal regulators to require tougher safety standards if the automakers do not respond.


The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is compiling statistics on deaths and injuries from power windows as part of a larger safety study to be released this fall. Preliminary figures show there are up to four deaths annually. A 1997 government study by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis estimated power windows sent nearly 500 people to emergency rooms in one year, and that half the victims were small children. Kids and Cars reported that an 11-year old was killed in Indiana in April of this year by a power window.

Solutions
These safety advocates want the auto industry to replace horizontal "rocker" and "toggle" switches with "lever" switches which must be pulled up to activate the window. Toggle switches work when pushed forward or pulled back. Rocker switches move the glass up when you press one end of the switch, and down when you press the other. The lever switches make it virtually impossible for a child to accidentally activate the windows. The groups also recommended an auto-reverse feature for power windows where sensors cause the windows to reverse their course if the upward movement is blocked. This feature is similar to how an elevator door functions, which pops open if they sense an object in their path.