Robert M.N. Palmer, The Law Offices of Robert M.N. Palmer, P.C., and David W. Little, Law Offices of David W. Little, P.C. attorneys for plaintiffs and Douglas W. Robinson, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P. and Curtis Smith, Chubbuck, Smith, Rhodes, Stewart & Elder, P.L.L.C., attorneys for defendants.

On November 3, 2001, 2½-year-old Zoie Gates was staying with her father, Jay Gates, while her mother Britt Gates attended a Christian Women's Seminar in Oklahoma City. Jay and Britt Gates own a cattle sale barn in Anthony, Kansas, and on that day Zoie went with her father and uncle to the Anthony Sale Barn so the men could unload a cattle truck. In order to keep her safe from the truck traffic and cattle being unloaded, Jay left Zoie in the back seat of her uncle’s 2000 Ford F-250 pickup truck, with the windows down and the radio on. Although the men were never more than 20 yards from the vehicle, and were busy for only a short time, at some point Zoie apparently leaned partially out of the left rear passenger window to see or pet a small dog near the truck. In doing so, she inadvertently stepped or kneeled on the power window rocker switch on the armrest, and the power window rapidly rose, entrapping her neck with the glass across her throat. Within a few brief terrible moments, the little girl was strangled to death.

Zoie Gates suffered a terrible death because, quite simply, Ford Motor Company incorporated a toggle-type power window switch in the 2000 F-250 Pickup truck which allows raising of the window by a child accidentally contacting the switch. The horizontally mounted toggle switch (also known as a rocker switch or see-saw switch) is activated by downward pressure on one end for lowering the window, and by downward pressure on the other end for raising the window. One of Plaintiffs' experts would have testified that the power windows in most current vehicles have the motor power to raise a smaller child's body. By accidentally exerting a small 2-pound downward force (average) on the power window toggle switch, the window is activated to exert an upward raising force of between 50 to 80 pounds. Since only 8-12 pounds is required to lift the window glass, the excess available force (40 to 70 pounds) is more than enough to lift and strangle a child. With an inadvertent touch on the toggle power window switch, the window raises in approximately 2 to 4 seconds before reaching the top. This obviously can trap a child's head or neck much more quickly than a child could move out of the window's path. The unrecessed toggle switch is a dangerous and defective device, since it allows the release of so much deadly energy through relatively minimal accidental contact by a child's knee or foot.
Ford, and the automotive industry in general, has for decades been aware of the dangers of power windows. Since their introduction into the U.S. market (without any safety controls) in the late 1950s and early 1960s, power windows have been the instruments of death and/or serious physical injury to children and others.

Case settled for a confidential amount on December 12, 2002.