NHTSA Drops Proposed Power Window Safety Rule
Every year, two dozen children have to be rushed to emergency rooms after being injured from power windows. These injuries range all the way from lacerations to strangulations. California product liability lawyers have long supported new regulations that would require automakers to equip power window systems with auto reverse mechanisms. It is disappointing to learn that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has dropped these proposals.
The auto reverse mechanisms that California safety advocates have called for could prevent thousands of power window-related injuries every year. The auto reverse mechanism would be able to detect when an object is in the path of the window, and would block the window, stopping it from its upward ascent. These auto reverse mechanisms work similarly to the ones that are currently installed in garage doors all over California.
These mechanisms provide the only foolproof system to prevent power window-related injuries and strangulations. The 2000 children, who are rushed to emergency rooms, are a fraction of the children involved in power window-related accidents every year. Children who have their head or limbs out the window can be at risk of amputation or strangulations when they, or someone else in the car, gets their limbs stuck in the power window. These accidents are not as uncommon as you might assume.
A couple of years ago, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a rule that would require automakers to install the auto reverse mechanisms in their power window systems., In 2009, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration admitted that installing the auto reverse mechanism on power window systems was not expensive. It would cost a mere $6 per window, a pittance when you consider that automakers spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on fancy gadgetry in their cars to lure customers. According to the federal agency, installing the auto reverse mechanism on power windows would save at least two lives every year. They could also help prevent 850 power window-related injuries annually.
Now, the federal agency says that it is scrapping that proposal. Cost concerns seem to be behind this decision. According to Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood, modern power windows are much more advanced and safer than older generation models. The old power windows were lever operated, and these increased the risk of an accident and injury. Besides, according to Secretary LaHood, there is very little known about the benefits of having auto reverse mechanisms. Secretary LaHood believes that most of the injuries that result from power window-related accidents are usually minor, and involve lacerations and bruises to a child’s finger or hand.
A number of auto safety advocates, most specifically Kids and Cars and California injury lawyers had supported regulations that would have required auto reverse mechanism systems on all power windows. It’s disappointing to note that the federal agency has not responded with equal concern about child safety.
The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated to the representation of personal injury victims. Please visit our website at
trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.
