Child's death initiates window safety debate

DELPHI, Ind. -- The death of a 3-year-old girl who became trapped in a car's power window highlights the need for the U.S. auto industry to make the devices safer, a child advocate said.\nRian Addison Brandt might not have died if her mother's car had been equipped with safer power windows, Kids and Cars president Janette Fennell told the Journal and Courier of Lafayette for a story Thursday.\nRian died Tuesday after she was left inside the car while her mother went inside a friend's house. The girl apparently removed her seat belt and rolled down the power window of the running car, according to the Carroll County Sheriff's Department.\nMegan Brandt told investigators she found her daughter caught in the window when she returned to the car after about five minutes.\nThe child was not breathing when emergency workers arrived at the scene about 15 miles northeast of Lafayette, and she was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later.\nFennell said Rian's death showed the need for the government to require safer power windows. The Kansas City, Kan.-based advocacy group last August began a campaign aimed at forcing U.S. automakers to change their windows.\nThe safety campaign does not target European or Japanese automakers, which install switches that are generally considered safer than the rocking switches in many U.S. vehicles.\n"If a child's little knee goes on that button, she just doesn't have a chance," Fennell said.\nGeneral Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG say they have safety features in place, including driver-operated lockout switches, on all vehicles that prevent children from using windows in the back seat.\nSome automakers' 2004 models have European-style switches that are flush with the arm rest and require users to pull up if they want the window to go up. Other safety features are included in future designs or as options.\nAutomakers also say any deaths due to power windows are a tragic reminder that children should not be left unsupervised around vehicles.\nA 1994 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that about 500 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries associated with passenger car power windows.\nThirty-two percent of those injured were under age 6, and another 32 percent were between the ages of 7 and 15, according to the study.\nThe NHTSA said last August it was studying the issue.