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Nearly all vehicles now seem to have electric windows up and down. Wouldn't it be quite inexpensive to have a chip that would detect movement in a vehicle once it is turned off, and roll the windows down (open) automatically?

And while we're at it we can form some new governmental regulatory commission to make sure that this doesn't happen again. And the agency can ensure that all of us with children under 5 retrofit our vehicles with this new technology. I'm being sarcastic and realize that you didn't propose a big government solution, but the problem is that every time you try to make something idiot-proof, someone comes along and makes a better idiot.

In fairness, I could see something like this happening, given the situation as described. The incidents of this type that make my blood boil involve cases such as the one where the "mother" left her child in the van while she played video poker or, the case cited earlier where the sailor locked her child in the car while on duty and "checked on him periodically". It's a crying shame that no matter how dumb some people may be, they always seem to figure out how to breed......

"Nearly all vehicles now seem to have electric windows up and down".

And some mini-vans have an auto door lock feature too.

Makes me cringe when I read stories like this, since my wife and I have a baby that is only 6 days old.

I can relate to a personal experience with a child locked in a van..

When I worked for a chrysler dealership I had to go to a local sand pit and use a slim jim to open a Chrysler town and country mini van up for a woman who had called the dealership, she was crying and explained that her baby was stuck in the van. The van was still running with her keys in the ignition.
It was mid July and about 80 degrees in the shade, but the van was in the wide open & it was black. Luckily she had left the AC on full blast and the baby was alright, the baby was locked in the van for a total of about 30 minutes.

It turned out that her husband worked at the sand pit as a truck driver and she was stopping by to see him for lunch but he was out on a delivery.

What happened was since the van was still running, the auto lock feature re-engaged when she exited the vehicle.

So if you have this feature on you vehicle remember to be careful, and if you have to, smash out a window in the vehicle.

Life is too precious, especially the lives of little ones.

Take care