Which power-window switches are safer? (Up Front).

At least 25 children have died during the past decade from injuries involving power windows in cars, according to Kids and Cars, a nonprofit group that tracks auto-safety issues involving children. Typically the child has his or her head out the window of a parked car and accidentally leans on the window switch. The glass moves up forcefully choking the child.

Two types of switches are inherently riskier than others if they're mounted horizontally on the door's armrest:

Rocker switches move the glass up when you press one end of the switch, down when you press the other.

Toggle switches work when pushed forward or pulled back.

A third type, the lever switch, is safer because it makes it harder to raise the window accidentally Lever switches must be pulled up to raise the glass. They generally have not been implicated in fatal injuries, according to Kids and Cars. Switches of any design mounted vertically or on an upswept armrest are harder to activate by accident.

Lever switches and autoreverse sensors are common in Europe. But autoreverse is required in the U.S. only in vehicles with auto/onetouch-up windows and remotely controlled windows. (BMW is recalling some vehicles because of problems with the autoreverse mechanism; see Recalls & Safety Alerts, page 11.)

Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety (and a ...