Auto Defect: Los Angeles Times, "Power window reforms sought in wake of deaths"

          At least seven children nationwide have died since March 30 from strangulation or asphyxiation after their necks were caught by power windows. The rash of deaths has prompted safety advocates to increase pressure on Congress to enact measures that would require vehicles to have safer power-window switches.
          The most recent incidents occurred June 5, when Yencey Ayala, 3, of Dallas was strangled in the window of a 2001 Ford F-250 truck. Her mother was sitting in the driver's seat next to her when the child may have accidentally activated the window with her knee or foot, according to the family's attorney. He said the child's mother tried to free her daughter by lowering the window, but had difficulty getting it to go down.
          Consumer groups want U.S. automakers to be required to install either power windows with auto-reverse mechanisms or the safer lever-type switches that pull up and push down. Though both Ford and General Motors have begun to introduce safer switches and auto-reverse windows on certain vehicles, critics say the availability of the equipment is limited and the automakers have been slow to offer it.