WFAA-TV

The danger of power windows can be illustrated using balloons.

When it comes to child safety, it seems power windows in cars, trucks and SUVs aren't at the top of anyone's list. Child safety advocate Janette Fennell says they should be.

"It's very quick; it's very fast; it has a lot of force, and they are strangled to death," said Fennell said.

Power windows pack 20 to 30 pounds of force. Accidents can happen when a youngster's knee pushes down on a window switch. Fennell’s research shows more than 500 people are injured this way each year.

"When that window goes up, its job is to get to the top, and it doesn't want anything to interfere," she said.

Court records show it happened two years ago to three-year old Yancey Ayala of Dallas. She was strangled to death after accidentally activating the window switch.

In Southlake, we asked several moms to take a simple safety test with us. With each, we rolled down a car window, blew up a balloon, then rolled the windows back up onto the balloon.

All were surprised with the gruesome results.

"That's dangerous," said one parent.

"It didn't stop; that's not good," said another. "Be nice if it had a little sensor—like a garage door," she added.

In fact, there is a simple solution, and some foreign carmakers have been offering it for years.

We showed the mothers a 2000 Volkswagen Passat. When you roll the window up on the balloon, the window senses the pressure and rolls back down.

"That's very cool," said one of the mothers. "That's awesome," said another.

Fennell thinks it’s time to make this equipment standard in American-made cars. "Why don't they just fix it when we know 80 percent of the vehicles in Europe have it?," she asked. "Are European children more precious than American children? I think not."

Fennel says the technology would cost about $10 to equip each window.

Automakers contend that their products meet all federal safety standards, and say that parents are responsible for their children's safety.

The Southlake mothers know that's true; but they say $10 a window is money well spent.

"Start demanding that we have sensors on our windows," one of them said. "I didn't know it was an option. I didn't even know it was created."

E-mail dschechter@wfaa.com