Who Knew of Such Dangers in Back Seat?

Before the Gleason family left for a retreat to the Kentucky mountains, the parents made sure their children were buckled up in the back seat.

Diana Gleason was at the wheel of a 1994 four-door Buick Century, next to her husband, Kevin. Ben, 9, sat behind his mother. Five-year-old Sarah was in the rear center seat, statistically the safest place for a child, playing with Barbie dolls.

It was 5 p.m. and raining on July 19, 1996. Idling at a red light in Jackson, Ky., the Gleasons’ car was rear-ended by a 1979 Ford pickup traveling at an estimated 24 mph.

“We didn’t think it was that bad of a hit,” Kevin recalled. “Ben said he was fine. But Sarah was kind of rocking there. . . . . Her head was back and her eyes were rolled up and she had a gray color.

“I knew she was in trouble.”

Kevin pulled Sarah out and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

“The emergency room people took Sarah out of my arms. That was the last time I ever held her.”

No one else was injured. Medical Examiner Gregory Davis concluded that Sarah died of a blow to the chest. “It would be analogous to a fist rammed against a balloon filled with water and the balloon bursts,” Davis said in a deposition.

The Gleasons sued GM and hired Dr. Joe Burton, chief medical examiner for DeKalb County, Ga. “The father and the upper portion of the seat back struck the little girl in the chest. Had the seat not collapsed, Sarah would have had no significant injury whatsoever,” he said.

GM settled in the fall of 1998 and paid the Gleasons an undisclosed sum, without acknowledging liability.

Waiting at a Florida Tollbooth

After landing at Orlando International Airport, two seventh-graders from La Canada couldn’t wait to visit Disney World. They never made it.

On July 28, Laurell Graham and Julie Brock were in the back of a 1999 Kia Sephia rental car driven by Julie’s mother, Anne Buettner, a Disney tax executive. All three were buckled up, police said.

Waiting in line at a tollbooth, the Kia was rear-ended at 60 mph by a 1989 Dodge minivan, according to a police report. The driver told police he had been drinking, records show. The Kia, which rammed into a Ford Explorer, was totaled, but the passenger compartment held up.

Julie, behind an empty seat that remained upright, was not badly hurt.

Laurell, behind a driver’s seat that failed, was so severely injured that Orlando police sent a homicide detective to the scene. The impact left her with a shattered jaw and chin, and more than a dozen facial fractures. She was hospitalized for 34 days and endured 18 hours of surgery.

Today the left side of Laurell’s face is partially paralyzed, and her speech is impaired. “I can smile a little bit, but it’s not like my regular smile,” she said.

Kia spokesman Geno Effler said the car was not to blame for Laurell’s injuries. “This is not a case of a seat back failure. It’s a case of a drunk driver hitting somebody at 65 miles per hour.”

A Feeling of Betrayal

The Riccios were en route to the Pocono Mountains when traffic slowed to a crawl on a two-lane rural New Jersey highway.

Without warning, the family’s 1997 Pontiac Trans Sport minivan was rear-ended on May 15, 1998, by a commercial truck traveling about 45 mph.

Seven-year-old Michael, riding behind an empty front seat, was unhurt. Next to him was 6-year-old Christopher. He was behind the driver’s seat--occupied by his father, Joseph--which collapsed. Both boys wore seat belts.

“Chris was slumped over, with blood coming out of his nose,” Joseph Riccio recalled. “He was listless.”

The boy was flown by helicopter to Morristown Hospital, where he lay in a coma for three days.

“Chris is classified as traumatic brain injured,” said his mother, Christine, who was riding in a separate vehicle. “He had bleeding inside his brain.”

Now Christopher has developed a learning disability.

“If you tell Chris ‘Here’s a crayon, draw a circle,’ he’ll draw a straight line,” Christine said. “It’s frustrating for him.”

The bolts that held the seat assembly to the vehicle floor were partly pulled out, Christine Riccio said. The Riccios, on the advice of an attorney, are suing the truck owner.

Christine Riccio said she can’t help but wonder why automobiles have warnings about air bags but not seat backs.

“As a consumer, you feel a little bit betrayed,” she said.

Three Burn to Death in Texas

Phaedra Ritting, named for a Greek goddess, dreamed of becoming a dancer and actress.

On the night of July 28, 1996, the 7-year-old was riding with her cousin, Phillip Winborn, also 7, in the back seat of his father’s 1992 Chevrolet Blazer.

They were in Tomball, Texas, to attend a family reunion when a Ford pickup operated by a drunken driver slammed into the Blazer.

Bobby Winborn’s driver’s seat collapsed on his son and Phaedra, trapping them as the vehicle caught fire, according to the family’s attorney. All three burned to death.

Winborn’s wife, Mary, and Phaedra’s aunt was in the front passenger seat. She escaped, as did two other children behind her, although they were severely burned. Police did not establish if any of the four children in the back were wearing seat belts.

Court records show that GM, without acknowledging liability, paid an estimated $8.9 million to settle a lawsuit.

Phyllis Ritting said money is no substitute for losing a child. “Phaedra had the richest, strongest imagination I’ve ever seen in a kid.”

Seat Track Releases

After planning a church function, the Traxlers began a short drive home to Sparta, Mich.

Deanna Traxler drove the family’s Ford Tempo. Her husband, Steven, sat in the back with 2-month-old Sarah, who was in a rear-facing infant seat directly behind her mother.

Waiting to make a left turn on the night of Nov. 20, 1990, the Tempo was hit by a Ford van traveling an estimated 50 mph.

Deanna and Steven walked away; Sarah was not so fortunate.

“The . . . seat track released, sending Deanna’s seat rearward with great force,” the Traxlers’ lawyer wrote in court papers. “At the same time, various metal components of the front seat broke, causing the seat back to collapse and rotate rearward, crushing the baby seat.”

Sarah suffered a fractured skull and severe brain injuries.

Today, at 9, Sarah is trapped at the developmental level of a 2-year-old. She mostly stays to herself, rocking back and forth, making high-pitched sounds.

Last year Ford paid a confidential settlement, without acknowledging liability.

“Everybody kept telling me we did everything possible to protect her,” Deanna said. “But I don’t think it will ever stop bothering me.”