Car Window Deaths Anger Safety Groups

Advocates Say Technology Exists to Prevent Accidents

At least seven children have died nationwide in the past three months by getting strangled in automobile power windows, prompting safety advocates to charge the auto industry and the government with dragging their feet in making relatively simple changes to reduce the danger.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency responsible for monitoring auto safety, has no rules governing power window safety and no formal way of tracking such accidents despite examining the issue for several years. A spokesman said the agency plans to propose a rule requiring safer power windows in about a month, followed by a comment period and then a phase-in period for industry to comply.

Until the recent unexplained surge in deaths, power windows were thought to be responsible for only about two to four child deaths per year, a small fraction of the 43,220 people killed annually in U.S. traffic accidents.

But safety advocates say any such deaths are unnecessary because they are readily preventable. The problem is primarily with U.S.-made cars sold in the U.S. market, which traditionally have used "rocker" or toggle-style switches that can cause power windows to close inadvertently if someone leans on the switch.

Because some foreign governments have window safety requirements, most Asian- and European-brand vehicles use a type of switch that has to be pulled upward to raise the window, making it difficult for a child to trip it accidentally. Many foreign brands also offer bounce-back features that cause windows to lower automatically if they hit an obstacle, similar to the safety feature on garage-door openers. Such equipment is available on Volkswagens, for example, sold in the United States or abroad.

Most U.S.-brand cars sold in Europe also offer such features, but are just beginning to offer the equipment in the domestic market. Ford Motor Co., for example, offers the safer-style switches on all Jaguars and Volvos, most Mazdas, Lincoln Navigators and Aviators, and Ford Mustangs and Thunderbirds, a spokeswoman said.

"Once this was identified as a safety issue, automakers immediately began to phase out the rocker switches," said Eron Shosteck, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "But bear in mind with any safety technology there's always a phase-in. You're always going to see it take time to penetrate the entire fleet."

Shosteck also pointed out that power windows, once primarily an option on expensive luxury cars, are now almost universal. Nearly 91 percent of all new vehicles sold in the United States this year were equipped with power windows, according to Ward's Automotive. In 1988, fewer than 50 percent of new cars sold in the United States had power windows.

That trend and the onset of warm weather may be partly to blame for the recent spate of accidents, though experts say it may be just bad luck. "It appears to be happening more often. I can't explain to you why, I don't understand that," said Sally Greenberg of Consumers Union, publishers of Consumer Reports, which has called for government intervention.

The Senate has passed a highway authorization bill that requires automakers to make power windows safer and creates a government database to keep track of such deaths. The proposal is in conference with a House highway bill that does not contain such language, and supporters say time is wasting.