Sad story re child & front load washing machine

[NancyJ_redo]

I'm posting this mostly as a PSA for anyone with a front load washing machine. It never occured to me that it could be dangerous for those with young kids, but sadly it is/was for this family. Story here http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/02/girl-washing-ma.html. The gist of it is that a 4 year old girl climbed into the washer and her 15 month old brother somehow managed to turn it on and the mother only found her when it was too late. So tragic.

[BabyMine]

That is so sad. It does make me think more about safety with our front loader. Prayers go out to this family.

[DrSally]

I couldn't access the link, but that is too horrible to imagine. We keep ours open to prevent mold.

[Melaine]

I am not going to read this....how horrific!

[elektra]

From what I saw last night, it was only a few minutes that the 2 of them were out of the mother's sight too. So scary. And the little girl was only in the washer for 1-2 minutes or some amount of time that seemed really short to me. Can't imagine. :(

[ThreeofUs]

I didn't look at the link, either, but this is precisely why we got a top-loading HE machine.

[s7714]

That's really tragic.

Considering that front loading machines usually need to be left cracked open to avoid mildew, they should really institute some kind of child safety mechanism so you can't actually start the machine by just pressing one single button.

[kayte]

That's really tragic.

Considering that front loading machines usually need to be left cracked open to avoid mildew, they should really institute some kind of child safety mechanism so you can't actually start the machine by just pressing one single button.

OUr machine does have a child lock for the buttons, but it must be set after use evry time. It would be nice if it defaulted to locked after use.

[EllasMum]

Tragic and heartbreaking. My dad and I were discussing a similar phenomenon last week when I got a new fridge - how you should remove the doors off an old fridge when disposing of it (or storing it somewhere randomly) so a child cannot get trapped inside. Seems like we hear about one of these (preventable) tragedies every few years. Scary to think that an appliance can become a death trap! Terribly sad story.

[ohiomom1121]

How horrible! I have been drooling over those new washers but will do my research regarding child safety before purchasing now. I never would have imagined this. So sad for that family.

[Globetrotter]

Don't you have to keep them cracked open to prevent mold?? How scary. I guess they could do a two button start, or something, in future models.

[niccig]

Scary. I can see my DS climbing inside and at 15 months he could have pushed buttons to start it as well. I think they need to make it harder to start.

[overcome]

What's even worse are some of the horrible, ignorant comments posted by readers beneath the story.

Prayers for this family from me tonight.

[niccig]

What's even worse are some of the horrible, ignorant comments posted by readers beneath the story.

Prayers for this family from me tonight.

I don't see this being the fault of the parent. It sounds like the kids were only alone for a few minutes and I've done that to pee or shower. At 4yo my DS could open the door to a washing machine like this, heck at 4yo he can put a key in the lock and turn it to open the front door, so he wouldn't need it to be left open, but as many said you leave them open so no mold. At 15 months, DS would have been capable of pushing the start button.

This is an awful accident. I really feel for that family.

[karolyp]

What's even worse are some of the horrible, ignorant comments posted by readers beneath the story.

Prayers for this family from me tonight.

I couldn't agree more. Those comments are just horrible. This could have easily been my family as we have front loaders that only take a touch of the button to turn on. I actually never thought of them as a safety issue, but now I won't take it for granted. It's just a sad situation all around and I hope the manufacturer's can come up with a solution.

[KrisM]

Just a thought - we have a child safety door knob on our laundry room door so that the kids don't go in. Yes, DS1 can open it, but he knows that if the door has a knob, he's not allowed to. DD can not yet open it.

How very sad for the family. I hope they don't read the horrible comments on that story. I can't believe how many are blaming the mom.

[LexyLou]

This is just heart breaking. We have front loader but the knobs are up high and back-like where they would be in a top loader. I know some of the newer front loaders have the buttons right at the front. So scary.

[DrSally]

This is just heart breaking. We have front loader but the knobs are up high and back-like where they would be in a top loader. I know some of the newer front loaders have the buttons right at the front. So scary.

That's a good idea. I hope they start making them like this.

[Globetrotter]

What's even worse are some of the horrible, ignorant comments posted by readers beneath the story.

Prayers for this family from me tonight.

:yeahthat: That made me feel even worse for the family. Who the heck can keep their eye on their kids 24/7?

[vejemom]

I'm pretty sure that One Step Ahead (or one of those catalogues) just came out with a front loader lock. Scary, I didn't realize that they were so easy to turn on.

I was considering front loaders for our rental house, but between this and the fact that the laundry room floor isn't concrete slab, I'm going with top loaders!

[o_mom]

I'm pretty sure that One Step Ahead (or one of those catalogues) just came out with a front loader lock. Scary, I didn't realize that they were so easy to turn on.

I was considering front loaders for our rental house, but between this and the fact that the laundry room floor isn't concrete slab, I'm going with top loaders!

It really varies by machine. Ours you have to push in the knob, turn it to a cycle and then pull it out hard to start it. It doesn't just start with the push of a button and when it finishes a cycle, it is not set to start again. Others are just push button, some have child locks. It is like dishwashers (and there was a similar story in the last couple years with a dishwasher). I worry more about our dishwasher as the child lock on this one does not stay on once the cycle finishes. Our previous one we would lock when we started it and it would stay locked until the cycle finished and you manually unlocked it.

[malphy]

:yeahthat: That made me feel even worse for the family. Who the heck can keep their eye on their kids 24/7?

It only takes a second for something to happen. You cannot function if your eyes are on them every sec. We all make educated guesses, based on our individual children, how long we can sneak to do something.

Kids are universally fascinated with going inside things, closets, boxes, cabinets. I front loading washer would surely be enticing. I had no idea, though, that they were so easy to use. Kids are very smart and love to push buttons. There should definitely be more thought put into the safety of these machines.

My heart and prayers go out to the poor family.