Trunk. Car. How Do You Get Out Of a Car Trunk?

Since 2002, cars have been required to have glow-in-the-dark handles to open the trunk from inside.

Click here to watch a video that shows you where the trunk release is on a 2011 Toyota Corolla, right next to the trunk latch, and how to release it.

No one has died from being trapped in a car trunk in any car made since 2002.

KidsandCars.org

This change in trunks is due to the efforts of Janette Fennel. She and her husband were kidnapped in 1995 and forced into their trunk.

KidsandCars.org is the advocacy group Fennel founded for improved safety in cars.

Children can crawl into the trunk of a car and close it, without realizing they won’t be able to open it from the inside.

KidsanddCars.org makes a kit that retrofits trunks in older cars. They estimate 10-20 people still die a year from being trapped in the trunk of a car.

This includes three children this past July, 2011, in two separate incidents, who died when they crawled into the trunk of their parents’ car.

Refrigerator Doors

When I was young, it was refrigerators that were unsafe. Just as with car trunks, refrigerators used to offer a small, neat hiding place for children.

Except that they couldn’t open the door from the inside. And nobody could hear them.

The Refrigerator Safety Act was passed in 1956. A magnetic seal fit the requirement that doors be capable of being opened with a 15-pound push.

Just as with old cars, though, old refrigerators still presented a problem, with 163 deaths reported between 1956 and 1964.

Most localities now require that discarded refrigerators have their doors removed.

Constant Vigilance

Ferrell continues to work to stop all children’s deaths in car trunks by educating owners of older cars.

If you are buying a car that was manufactured before 2002 for a teenage grandchild, please make sure it has a trunk latch release inside.

Did you realize that car trunks from 2002 on all now have a safety latch?

Do you know where it is?

Do you know how to use it?

To you and keeping your precious grandchildren safe.

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