Vehicle Safety News

11Alive.com (Atlanta, GA), "'Defect' Blamed in Toddler's Death"

A toddler was killed Tuesday night in front of his Cobb County home when a minivan, with its engine off, rolled over him. According to police, another child had been able to shift the minivan out of "park" setting the vehicle in motion. Police said the minivan involved Tuesday night was a 1997 Chrysler-made Dodge Caravan. They say the 2-year-old child was playing alone inside the minivan, shifted it out of "park," and it rolled backward over the toddler, a 17-month-old boy.

Smolar said he is aware of more than two dozen similar cases of death and injury, nationwide, always in Chrysler-made vehicles made before 2001. The problem, Smolar said, is that Chrysler waited until 2001 to do what other car makers had already done -- install a "brake shift interlock" in its vehicles that requires drivers to press the brake pedal down, after turning the key in the ignition, in order to shift out of "park."