Power window rolls up on and kills girl playing in parked car in Arizona

[left-of-center2012]

A young girl died Saturday evening when the power window of the parked car she was playing in activated and closed on her, police in Phoenix said. Police responding to a 7:30 p.m. traffic accident call found a girl who had been playing inside a parked car outside a home and gotten caught in a closing power window, the Arizona Republic reported. Cops took her to a hospital in critical condition, where she later died of her injuries, The Associated Press reported.

Police did not say what part of the child’s body was caught in the window, or reveal her name or age. While no foul play is suspected, negligence charges may “be on the table,” police told KPNX-TV. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner will determine the child’s exact cause of death, police said.

While more children die in hot cars than in power-window accidents, the threat posed by the latter is also grave, car-safety advocates said. Children climbing windows can stand on and activate the toggle switches in some vehicle models. More than 65 children have been killed in the past 20 years, and an “untold number” have suffered amputations or brain injuries. “People don’t understand the power that these window go up,” Janette Fennell, president of national car safety advocacy organization Kids and Cars, said. “It has between 30 and 40 pounds of force, and it takes 22 pounds of force to break the trachea.”

“It’s awful. It’s heart-wrenching,” Andy Williams Phoenix Police Department spokesman Andy Williams told KSAZ-TV. “Little kids can get into anything, and it just takes a moment for them to get into something that they shouldn’t, and it just takes that moment where tragedy can strike..”

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-power-window-killed-girl-playing-parked-car-arizona-20211004-4xohxlaqhreu7cawljyto22voq-story.html

[marybourg]

1. I, for one, would happily give up power windows and

go back to the great exertion required to crank up a window to prevent this from ever happening again.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. How sad.

I also wonder how it was the power window was activated. I'm guessing the key was left in, and the power turned on. Why? Why wouldn't the driver take the key out when they leave the car? And why would they leave a young child in the car, unattended?

Honestly, people are idiots and never think through anything.

[left-of-center2012]

3. "how it was the power window was activated. I'm guessing the key was left in"

"Courtesy Power-On:
Power windows work only when the ignition of the vehicle is on.
But some cars have a ‘courtesy power backup’ which is supplied to the window circuit even after the engine is turned off.

In case you forget to roll up your windows, this feature saves you from the hassle of turning your ignition on again, just to pull the windows up."

https://www.bankbazaar.com/insurance/motor-insurance-guide/power-windows-in-cars.html

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. My car, a 1917 Honda Fit, allows me to open or close windows for a minute or two after I've turned

it off. I realize other cars can be quite different, but I'm still astonished to think that this could have happened some while after the driver left the car. Although perhaps leaving the child in the car is the real crime.

[RockRaven]

5. If the kid was in the car on purpose, the key was probably there to keep the fan/AC running...

That time of day, this time of year, that place, you're looking at 80-90 degree F ambient temps...


Yeah, never leave a kid in a car unattended, period.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Yeah, never leave a kid in a car unattended, period.

That says it all.

[ga_girl]

7. Without knowing the Make/Model and Year of the car - an observation

A poor design may have contributed to the death. Some cars have a power window switch design which is a rocker, and a person can press down on one end to lower the window, but also press down on the other end to raise the window. My mom's ancient Nissan Maxima had such a design. A much better design has a pull up on the switch to raise the window and a push down to lower the window. My Mazda 6 has such a design.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=127763&page=1

And apparently the push down switch type was regulated away in 2004 with a 2008 implementation.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2004/09/15/04-20714/federal-motor-vehicle-safety-standards-power-operated-window-partition-and-roof-panel-systems