KidsAndCars Release New Power Windows Victims Survey Data

If you don't have kids, maybe this will get to you...

As promised at the end of October, safety organization KidsAndCars released yesterday data obtained during their latest survey regarding injuries to occupants in vehicles equipped with power windows. According to their findings (after a research conducted over the phone and online), tens of millions have experienced a close, harmful encounter with the car's power windows.

“Without question, vehicle safety for the citizens of this country is one of our main responsibilities,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said during the public presentation of the study. “As far as the dangerous potential of power windows is concerned, automakers have existing technology to prevent millions of injuries and deaths, and we should require them to utilize this preventive technology to save lives.”

The study showed the following:

• more than 13 million US adults have injured someone they know by closing a car window
• over 22 million US adults have been personally injured or know someone who has been personally injured by someone else closing a car window
• over 10 million US adults have been personally injured by someone else closing a car window but did not seek medical care thus they were not included in any government data collection efforts

KidsAndCars say a usual power window exerts an upward force of in between 30 to 80 pounds, well above the 22 pounds of force required to suffocate or injure an infant. This terrifying reality can be avoided by a simle, $6-per-window worth of equipment, called automatic reversing windows (ARS).

According to the group, although most European cars have it, less than half of US sold GM, Ford and Chrysler vehicles are equipped with ARS in the country.