Trunk Entrapment
Internal trunk release mechanisms are now required in all vehicles with trunks. There has not been one fatality in the trunk of a vehicle with this glow-in-dark release!
Consumer Reports: A kit makes trunks in older cars safer
Child Tragedies
The trunk of a vehicle may seem like the perfect hiding spot for an innocent game of “hide-and-go-seek.” However, children do not understand how quickly the temperature inside the trunk of a vehicle can rise. These tragic stories are about children who became trapped inside the trunk of a vehicle and were not found until it was too late.
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Close Calls
Below are stories of just a few children who survived being trapped in a trunk.
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Safety Tips
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Fact Sheet
Charts, Statistics, Graphics
KidsAndCars.org makes available charts and graphs to be downloaded for free and are excellent education materials. We encourage you to share, print, copy, distribute, or enlarge them; but we ask that no changes be made. Simply click on an image below to open a full PDF file of the chart.
News
Could your child escaped from locked car trunk?
February 12, 2012
Sometimes children play in places they shouldn't, like the trunk of the car. If your child got trapped inside, could he or she get out?
Read MoreLeawood woman saved countless lives
February 02, 2012
Janette Fennel of Leawood has one remarkable story of how in one instant, back in 1995, her life change forever.
Read More
As Kids Keep Dying in Car Trunks, GM Fix is Elusive
August 04, 2011
In the past two months, three more youngsters, two in Indiana and one in Oklahoma, lost their lives after getting trapped in the scorching hot trunks of General Motors cars.
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Every Summer Kids Die in Hot Car Trunks
July 12, 2011
Kids and Cars has repeatedly called on General Motors to recall its older vehicles and install trunk safety releases that allow people inside to escape.
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Two Oklahoma Children Die in Hot Cars
July 11, 2011
Is enough being done to protect kids in hot cars? One organization says "trunk release latches" it pushed to have installed in newer model cars, is helping.
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Deaths prompt renewed call for retrofitted trunk releases
July 08, 2011
In the wake of the recent deaths of two children who became trapped in the trunk of a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu, the safety group KidsAndCars.org is again calling on General Motors to recall all vehicles with trunks from the 2000 and 2001 model years and retrofit them with internal releases at no cost to consumers.
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Push for safety release in trunk of older model cars
June 29, 2011
KidsandCars.org is pushing for car makers like GM to add an important safety feature to older models. They say GM needs to retrofit 2000 and 2001 models to add a safety release in the trunk of the cars.
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Group Warns About Dangers of Car Trunks
June 28, 2011
KANSAS CITY, MO- A metro group dedicated to keeping kids safe in cars is pressuring General Motors to retrofit older cars with a trunk release after a number of children have been killed or injured after getting locked in trunks, but they say that the automaker is refusing to take action.
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After Child Deaths, KidsAndCars.org Renews Challenge to G.M.
June 22, 2011
KidsAndCars.org, a nonprofit organization that focuses on safety issues relating to children and automobiles, announced on Monday that it renewed demands for General Motors to voluntarily recall all 2000-1 model-year vehicles equipped with trunks to install internal trunk releases.
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Indiana Car-Trunk Deaths Renew Child-Safety Fears, Recall Request
June 22, 2011
Indeed, a recent study conducted by KidsandCars found that 46 children have died in unintentional trunk entrapments since 1992. The study noted that 21 of the 46 deaths were in GM vehicles.
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Studies
Fatal Car Trunk Entrapment Involving Children, United States 1987-1998
The Power of Survivor Advocacy: making car trunks escapable
Children dying in car trunks: how adequate are child death databases?