Student Designs Child Safety Lock for ATVs

Centreville's Alexia Ioannou, a senior industrial systems and engineering student at Virginia Tech, joined three other students in designing an ignition safety lock which makes it almost impossible for a young child to start an adult-sized ATV by his or herself. 

In 2009, an estimated 32,400 children under the age of 16 were treated at emergency rooms for injuries and 61 were killed in All-Terrain Vehicle accidents, according to statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Agency staff say the ATV child-proof interlock system Ioannou helped design may reduce those numbers.

The three-step system requires a rider to be at least 90 pounds and sit far back on the seat, thus pushing the cushion down to activate a magnet switch. From there, the user must press down and pull a toggle switch, while also pressing a foot pedal. All three devices must be activated for the ignition to start, said Ioannou.

The four students already have tested the ATV lock system on several local children under the age of 12, with none able to defeat the system.

“We hoped it would limit them and it has,” said Ioannou.