Emergency release INSIDE trunk?

[stevenpensacola]

I heard an ad on the radio by our local Dodge dealer touting the safety features of the new cars. One of the features they mentioned was a emergency release inside of the trunk.

That really made me want to run out and buy one of these cars .

Are there that many people who get locked in the TRUNK of their cars? If so, should these people be driving?

Now I feel better.......

 

[floridaminnie]

YOu mean to tell me you don't lock yourself in your trunk at least once a week?

 

[Pam]

Well if you are kidnapped and stuffed in the trunk of a car - I think it would be a very good thing. Or suppose a little child was goofing around and somehow got locked in the trunk....

These scenarios happen more than you'd think.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by stevenpensacola
.....Are there that many people who get locked in the TRUNK of their cars?.....

Mostly children are the ones who die.

http://www.kidsandcars.org/trunc/factsheet.htm

 

[Fire14]

good grief dodge wake up and smell the gasoline my saturn has it and it's a 99.

 

[Grog]

Over the past month, I rented both an Interpid and a Neon. Both had this feature. When I first saw it, I thought it was a good idea. I like the fact that the lever glows in the dark (No, I didn't climb in the trunk to find out).

 

[suzannews]

My new '04 Corolla has this, the handle is lime green and glows in the dark. Scared the you know what out of me the first time I went grocery shopping at night and opened the trunk when I got home to unload the groceries.

 

[Pugdog007]

Originally posted by Pam
Well if you are kidnapped and stuffed in the trunk of a car - I think it would be a very good thing.

This happened to my friend in 1983. She was 16. The car had one of these but neither she nor her boyfriend knew to look for it. The kidnappers took them to a deserted road, tied them together and shot them. She did not survive.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

It's not someting new so I don't know whay you would list it as "feature". The inside trunk release has been a standard feature since the mid-90s, I think. It's to protect people, mostly children, from getting locked inside. I know my friend's '95 Escort Wagon had an inside release and I sort of remember that being about the time they were mandated.

 

[mcnuss]

Are there that many people who get locked in the TRUNK of their cars? If so, should these people be driving?

Apparently you don't read the papers or watch the news much -- either that, or you didn't think this through before you posted.

A lot of children get into the trunk of the car when playing hide and seek or for other reasons. In addition, as others have pointed out, adults are locked in trunks by criminals. I believe that when NHTSA did a study on this, they found that something like 500 people had died (not sure over what period of time) as a result of being locked in a trunk.

I believe a federal regulation went into effect in 2001 requiring that these release devices be placed in every car. Leave it to Dodge (or rather GM) to use it as a marketing ploy!

 

[Pam]

This happened to my friend in 1983. She was 16. The car had one of these but neither she nor her boyfriend knew to look for it. The kidnappers took them to a deserted road, tied them together and shot them. She did not survive.

I am so sorry that your friend had to die that way!

 

[ZachnElli]

A little boy (2 or 3 years old) died here last summer after hiding in the trunk. The police looked for him for 3 hours, assumed a kidnapping. So sad. We showed our kids the release in their daddy's car, just in case. But he's back to a truck now.