A tragic incident occurred in Bissy-sur-Fley, France, where Bernadette Delmotte, aged 60, lost her life in a peculiar accident involving her Fiat 500’s electric window. Delmotte was attempting to prevent her car from rolling away due to a forgotten handbrake. Unfortunately, she inadvertently applied pressure to the window controls while reaching for the handbrake, resulting in her neck being trapped between the window and the car’s body.
Initially, Delmotte’s absence at a scheduled meal on June 13 raised concerns among her family and friends. They feared she might have been a victim of a theft attempt or worse. However, investigations later revealed that the tragedy was a result of a fatal accident related to the car’s window mechanism. Delmotte’s brother François expressed the initial confusion surrounding her death, highlighting the disbelief and emotional turmoil experienced by their family.
According to a close friend, Béatrice, the accident unfolded when the handbrake was not engaged, causing the car to move backward. In an attempt to halt the car’s motion, Delmotte leaned through the open window. Regrettably, her hand unintentionally triggered the window control, leading to the fatal entrapment of her neck when she tried to retract.
In a separate incident in Ukraine in 2021, a woman lost her life in a similar manner involving a BMW car. While celebrating her 21st birthday, the woman was reaching out to her daughter through the car’s window when the child inadvertently activated the automatic window, resulting in a tragic outcome. These incidents highlight the importance of safety features like ‘pinch protection’ in modern vehicles, designed to prevent such accidents by detecting resistance during window closure and activating anti-pinch mechanisms automatically.