Vehicles put into motion by Children Left Unattended
 | | | | A brake shift interlock or park shift interlock is a safety device that prevents a vehicle with an automatic transmission from
being moved out of "park" and into "neutral" or "drive" until the driver depresses the brake pedal. |
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| | | | 10.1% of all children killed in the last 5 years were killed by a child putting a vehicle into motion. |
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 Children should never be left alone in vehicles, because if the vehicle does not contain a brake shift interlock device, the child can move the gear shift and have the vehicle roll away even without the keys in the ignition. As the vehicle is rolling, children in front or behind can be struck and killed. The child in the vehicle
may also panic and be struck by the rolling vehicle if he tries to exit the vehicle.
For those of you who think that this is a freak accident, consider the
numbers. 75 children have died due to unwanted gear shift engagement. The best selling minivan of all-time was investigated by the NHTSA for model years 1981-1990. The NHTSA found startling results:
- 212 roll-aways
- 111 injuries
- 7 fatalities
Technology has existed for almost 100 years to prevent deaths
caused by vehicle rollaway. From 1914-1930, three interlock devices were patented to prevent a vehicle from going into motion unless a series of safety steps were first undertaken. Between
1930-1934, GM alone acquired 4 interlock patents. All three domestic vehicle manufacturers had their own modern interlock patents by the early 1970's. Safety improvements were proposed
by many others.
The 1963 Human Engineering Guide To Equipment Design, dedicated a whole chapter to methods of preventing accidental activation of controls. Operation sequencing was the key design element to prevent unwanted activation. This is the classic definition of an interlock device. Patent no. 3,434,315 issued in 1969 provided that "as is often the case, a child is left in the vehicle
while the adult driver must leave for a few moments to accomplish a particular task. Many cases are known where a child has accidentally placed the gear selector in a neutral position causing
the car to roll with subsequent injury to the child and damage to the motor vehicle.” In 1991, the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California Irvine wrote that “the most common
injury to a child in a non-traffic related incident occurred when a child moved the vehicle out of gear.” In 1992, the Human Factors Society wrote that a shift interlock system that required the driver to depress the brake before shifting out of park would eliminate potentially dangerous shifting habits.
| | | | Despite having technologically feasible designs to cure a hazard that was foreseen earlier, vehicle manufacturers have been slow to adopt brake shift interlocks as standard equipment. |
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Considering all of the patents and technical literature, why would a company not use a device with such a useful purpose? The answer lies with the NHTSA. Even though the number of vehicle
rollaways continues to climb, the NHTSA has never required brake shift interlocks. This certainly does not suggest that the NHTSA believes shift interlocks are not helpful however. In fact,
the NHTSA wrote a report in 1989 entitled An Examination of Sudden Acceleration wherein the NHTSA proposed the use of automatic shift locks which would require the driver to depress the
brake pedal before the vehicle can be shifted out of gear. The NHTSA concluded that shift locks would "prevent unattended children from shifting the car out of park." Furthermore,
minivans which were classified as multipurpose passenger vehicles were initially exempt from having to comply with the same federal standards as passenger automobiles. Using this
loophole, Chrysler marketed its minivans as family vehicles and encouraged the transportation of small children. There were three generations of Chrysler minivans:
- AS-body 1984-1995
- NS-body 1996-2000
- RS-body 2000- present
In 1992, Chrysler bought a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal
which included the following headline:
 Yet, Chrysler did not include brake interlocks on it’s 1992 minivans. Chrysler bragged that its 1996 Dodge Caravan was a leader in safety. In its 1996 Town and Country brochure, Chrysler commented that it had unprecedented emphasis on research and development. Yet, Chrysler did not use a brake shift interlock on its minivan until the RS-body which came out in 2000. This was well after its competitors had started using brake shift interlocks in 1993.
| | | 1993 Ford Aerostar, 1993 Mercury Villager
1994 Mercury Villager, 1995 Honda Odyssey all had brake shift interlocks as standard equipment |
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Even more important, however is the fact that Chrysler was installing brake shift interlocks on its 1993 Mitsubishi Eagle Summit. In 1997, Chrysler offered a retrofit to owners of 1984-
1995 Jeep Cherokee and Wagoneer vehicles for the installation of a brake shift interlock.
Vehicle manufacturers and others argue that if parents and caregivers watch their children and prevent them from playing inside a vehicle that brake shift interlocks are unnecessary. In a
perfect world this is true. But, parents cannot possibly watch their children every second of the day. Parents will also sometimes make mistakes and forget to lock a vehicle that is sitting in a
driveway. Knowing that people make mistakes, it is incumbent on manufacturers to provide the last line of defense for children.
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