Deaths Intensify Debate on Inside Trunk Lock Releases

The deaths this summer of 11 children accidentally trapped in car trunks have renewed debate about whether internal trunk releases should be mandatory. The most recent victims, five girls ages 2 to 6, were buried earlier this month in West Valley City, Utah.

Requiring all new vehicles to have internal trunk releases is crucial to preventing not only childhood deaths but also the deaths of adults who have been carjacked, says Janette Fennell, who founded Trunk Releases Urgently Needed Coalition, or TRUNC, after a 1995 carjacking in which she and her husband were locked in the trunk.

TRUNC reports that at least 650 cases of trunk entrapment have occurred in recent years, leading to 138 deaths.

But others say the chances of trunk entrapment are remote and question whether adding internal releases will send children the message that it’s OK to play in the trunk.

“There’s already a safety device on every car,” one critic said. “It’s called a door lock. Parents can’t watch their kids constantly, but they can put their keys in their pocket or out of reach.”

Others are awaiting answers from a safety study of trunk releases by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an effort mandated by federal legislation and just getting underway.

NHTSA has 18 months to complete the study, but the American Automobile Manufacturers Assn., which represents the Big Three auto makers, on Aug. 12 urged the agency to complete the study more quickly and pledged its cooperation.

“Our position is: We want to do the right thing, but we don’t know what the right thing is,” said Barry Felrice, the automobile manufacturers association’s director of regulatory affairs. “Maybe a trunk release is not the best way. Maybe it’s [mechanisms that allow escape by way of the] rear seat.”

Adding the release would cost about $20, he estimates.

A petition to make inside trunk lock releases mandatory was submitted to NHTSA in 1984 but was denied later that year by Felrice, who was then the agency’s associate administrator for rule making. He concluded that the likelihood of an internal trunk release lever ever being utilized was remote.

Last week, TRUNC’s Fennell met with a representative of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to enlist her help. Feinstein is expected to review the issue this week, a spokesman for her office said.

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Ease of escape from car trunks varies by model.

“I’m not aware of any models in the U.S. with internal trunk releases,” said Vann Wilber, director of vehicle safety and international affairs for the auto manufacturers association.

But some fold-down seats make escape possible. For instance, the Volvo S80 seat-back release is operated from within the trunk and clearly marked, said Jim Borsh, a spokesman for the Swedish auto maker. Someone trapped in the trunk could pull the handle, thus causing the backrest of the back seat to fold down.

A kit to install an inside trunk release is available for $24.95 from CTLR Enterprises of Sorrento, Fla., (800) 641-8146, and is described on TRUNC’s Web page, https://www.netkitchen.com/trunc.