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`Feds to Tighten Window Rules
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`Safety agency will require safer switches after growing number of deadly accidents
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`September 13, 2004
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`By Jeff Plungis / Detroit News Washington Bureau
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`WASHINGTON - Federal auto safety regulators will unveil new rules Monday calling for safer
`power window designs.
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`The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to require switches that are less
`likely to accidentally activate power windows, which have been linked to a spate of recent
`injuries and deaths among small children.
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`In the latest incident, Kids and Cars, a watchdog group, said a 2-1/2-year-old boy died in
`Amite, La., last week in a Ford F-350 pickup after accidentally stepping on a power window
`switch. It is the eighth child fatality linked to power windows the group has documented this
`year.
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`NHTSA administrator Dr. Jeffrey Runge will announce the new rules in Columbus, Ohio,
`alongside Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, who sponsored legislation this year to require new switch
`designs. The law would mandate rules by 2006 and require "window switches and related
`technologies be designed to prevent the accidental closing by children of power windows."
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`The legislation is part of a highway bill Congress is expected to finalize this fall.
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`Some safety advocates are concerned that NHTSA will limit the new measures to safer window
`switches, instead of forcing automakers to implement more aggressive measures, such as
`windows that retract when a sensor detects an object in its path.
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`"On one hand, we're elated that the agency is taking up the issue," said Janette Fennell,
`president of Kids and Cars. "But they have an opportunity to ensure a child never dies this way
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`http://www.autosafety.org/feds-tighten-window-rules
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`UUSI Exhibit 2010
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`Feds to Tighten Window Rules | The Center for Auto Safety
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`again. Auto-reverse would eliminate the cause of all of these deaths and all of these injuries."
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`NHTSA has examined those kinds of technologies in recent months. on July 20, the agency met
`with representatives from Nartron Corp., a Reed City, Mich., company that has devised a "smart
`power window" that retracts as soon as it detects an object.
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`John Washeleski, Nartron's senior vice president of engineering, said agency officials indicated
`they were focused on safer switch designs as a good first step. But Washeleski said any
`measure that stopped short of requiring the extra protection of an automatic retractor would
`fall short.
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`"There's no such thing as a safe switch," Washeleski said. "Talk to five people, and you'll find
`someone who was injured or was nearly injured by a power window."
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`Many automakers have voluntarily phased out the "toggle" switch design considered to be more
`dangerous. A toggle or "rocker" switch raises a window if pressed forward. Safety advocates say
`that children can inadvertently raise windows by stepping on the switches. European and
`Japanese automakers have opted increasingly for "lever" switches that must be pulled upward
`by a finger to make the window rise. Some foreign brands are also offering windows that
`bounce back when an object gets in their path.
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`Safety advocates say U.S. automakers have been slow to adopt the newer switch designs. But
`some models do have lever switches, including the Chrysler Pacifica, the Pontiac Montana and
`the Chevrolet Silverado.
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`NHTSA has studied power window design since 1996 in response to a petition from Prospects
`Corp., an automotive supplier. The company wanted NHTSA to change its regulations to allow
`for infrared detection systems that detect objects in the path of a closing window.
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`In response to the latest deaths among children, automakers have advised parents not to leave
`children alone in cars and trucks.
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`Carolyn Brown, a spokeswoman for Ford Motor Co., said the company would not comment until
`the agency unveils its proposal Monday.
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`Invented by Daimler-Benz in 1948, electric power windows were first installed mainly on luxury
`models. But as they became more popular in the 1960s, a new safety hazard developed. In
`1962, Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanaugh's 2-year-old son, Christopher, nearly was strangled by
`a power window in the tailgate of the family's new station wagon. Consumer safety advocate
`Ralph Nader referred to power windows as "guillotines" in the 1960s.
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`http://www.autosafety.org/feds-tighten-window-rules
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`UUSI Exhibit 2010
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