A coroner has criticised the design of a Jaguar electric car after the tragic death of a seven-year-old boy.
Alfie Tollett was crushed between two parked cars as he changed his rugby boots after the driver of a £70,000 Jaguar I-PACE vehicle wrongly put the car into drive instead of reverse.
Having mistakenly thought he had it in reverse while attempting to park, the unnamed driver “relied on feel” to select the reverse button as he drove forward for up to 10 seconds, trapping Alfie.
Assistant coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, Deborah Archer said that if the design of the car had been different, the tragedy could have been prevented.
Writing to the CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, she said there was a risk more deaths could occur “unless action is taken”.
Currently, the car can be put into drive or reverse by simply pressing one of two buttons on a console.
At his inquest, which finished last month, it was heard that Alfie had just watched his brother play in a match at Plymstock Albion Oaks RFC in Plymouth, and was putting his shoes back on when he got wedged between two cars.
The driver “used his left hand to select the reverse button to straighten the vehicle up” but did not check to see if he had selected the correct button, instead relying “on feel”, the inquest heard.
As a result, the Jaguar lurched forwards instead of backwards as it was in drive and shunted another parked car into Alfie, causing the fatal crush.