Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Posts Tagged ‘strangulation’

Imagine this scenario: In a pleasant subdivision in Florida, where everyone knows everyone else and people feel secure allowing their kids to play outside with friends, the neighborhood kids, ranging from five and up, all seem to be having fun. One of the younger children tries the door to her mother’s car, parked in the driveway. It is unlocked, so she climbs in and starts playing around with the controls.  There is no key in the ignition, and the parking brake is on.  She leans her head out the window to wave at her older brother, and in doing so presses on the automatic window button. The window begins to rise.  She can’t stop it, and in seconds, her neck is trapped.  She tries to call for help, but can’t get enough breath to speak, and so she groans.  The other kids laugh, thinking she’s just fooling around, pretending.  Within minutes, she’s dead.

Does this seem farfetched? It isn’t. Injuries and deaths from power windows are not uncommon. The story above is true. Since 1990 over 50 children have been killed by power windows, and the number of child injuries caused by these windows is in the thousands—serious injuries, including traumatic brain injuries and amputations of fingers—and most  of the victims are three years old and younger.

How could this terrible tragedy have been prevented?  What if the automatic windows in the car had reversed when coming into contact with the child, much the way elevator doors do if they close on someone? 

Consider these facts about automatic reversal technology:

• ARS technology would only cost around $6 per car window. 
• Eight out of ten new vehicles sold in Europe and most American cars sold overseas include ARS technology, but fewer than half of the vehicles produced by major US automakers and sold in the United States have this technology.

 In 2009, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration conducted a study aimed at deciding if they should require automatic reversing systems (ARS) technology in cars manufactured or sold in the United States. NHTSA decided ARS is not necessary. At the time, the information now available had not been completely assembled.

 Not necessary? If even one child injury or death is caused by a power window, we contend that preventing this unnecessary harm is absolutely necessary.  And one might ask how it is that European children deserve this protection more than our own.  Who among us would be unwilling to pay an additional $24 when buying a car to assure that our nation’s children are safe from these devastating injuries?

Last month, we reported over 2 million drop side cribs manufactured by Stork Craft had been recalled due to the danger of child entrapment and  strangulation.  Just this week, another manufacturer of drop side cribs, Dorel Industries, is being forced to recall 635,000 cribs due to hazards of infant and toddler strangulation, suffocation and even infant death.

 An online report was published this week suggesting that Dorel Industries may have been persuaded with the recall by actions the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission planned to take.  The report quotes a spokesman with CPSC as saying the commission would take unilateral action to recall 20 various models of Dorel cribs due to hardware issues in drop-side cribs as well as for slats that break.

The report continues to say that because of the potential embarrassment of not issuing a recall in the aftermath of dozens of incidents and the fatality of a baby — Dorel announced the recall with the traditional language of  “in cooperation with” the CPSC.

 In a written statement, Dorel said, “The recall is motivated by isolated reports of broken crib slats and drop-side hardware. In total, 67 incidents were reported and 10 children were bruised or scratched.”  The statement described the circumstances surrounding the infant’s death as highly unusual. 

For more details,  please visit CPSC or call Dorel Asia toll-free at  (866) 762-2304