Corvette Owner Dies Because He Didn’t Know This Lever Could Free Him

Summer’s arrival inevitably brings a surge in heat-stroke deaths inside vehicles, but a bizarre case in Texas this week could have been avoided.

James Rogers, 73, had just finished eating at a Waffle House in Port Arthur, Texas on Monday when he took his dog and climbed inside his 2007 Chevy Corvette. The car locked behind him, but due to a loose cable, would not start or unlock — and because the Vette has electronic door and window switches, Rogers could not get out.

Police would later find that Rogers had left his phone in the restaurant, and because the car had no power, he couldn’t use the horn. By the time bystanders and firefighters had arrived to break the Vette’s window, Rogers and his dog had succumbed to heat stroke.

Among some Vette owners, this is a well-known problem, as is the solution — an exposed lever on the floor to the left of the driver’s seat that manually opens the doors in case of emergency. But it’s not something that’s common in other vehicles, nor something that a new owner would know without pouring through the owner’s manual.

It’s not the first time someone has been imperiled inside an unresponsive Vette. Unintuitive design has led to deaths in other vehicles; during the Toyota sudden-acceleration cases several years ago, a number of people were hurt or killed because they didn’t realize the “start” buttons for turning the engine on would also turn it off if held down for two seconds. As cars grow more complicated, so will the need to make basic safety functions clear — and avoid tragedies like this one.