Here's how seat flipped in Honda Odyssey like the one used by trapped teen in fatal accident

Anne Saker and Alexander Coolidge | The Cincinnati Enquirer

Show Caption Hide Caption How authorities say teen died in Honda Odyssey Kyle Plush died after being pinned under a seat in his 2004 Honda Odyssey. Video updated November 15, 2018.

CINCINNATI — A quick reach for tennis gear in a minivan led to the death of an Ohio high school student Tuesday, and an Enquirer examination of a similar van shed some light on how it could have happened.

Using a 2004 Honda Odyssey – the same year, make and model as the one 16-year-old Seven Hills School sophomore Kyle Plush drove — the Enquirer recreated how someone could become pinned in the back of the vehicle.

A source with knowledge of what happened to Plush told the Enquirer on Thursday that the teenager died while trying to retrieve tennis equipment from the Odyssey's rear. Parked at Seven Hills for tennis practice, he put a knee on the third-row bench seat and reached over the bench seat into the rear well.

The source said the bench seat then flipped backward. The force of that motion and the weight of the seat trapped Plush upside down, head in the rear well and legs in the air against the minivan’s rear door.

More: How everything went exactly wrong and a 16-year-old ended up dead

Related: 'I probably don't have much time left,' dying student says in 911 call

In a preliminary report Wednesday, Hamilton County Coroner Lakshmi Sammarco ruled Plush died of asphyxia by chest compression — meaning a weight restricted his ability to expand his chest to breathe.

The Odyssey examined by the Enquirer on Thursday has a latch on the rear bench seat that, when unfastened, allows the seat to fold into the rear well to create more floor room.

The Enquirer tested the description of Plush’s action to grab his gear and found that when the seat latch is secured, the seat did not move.

But when the latch was not secured, a reporter kneeling on the bench seat and reaching into the rear well was able with little effort to rock the seat backward. That motion of the heavy metal-framed seat can sandwich a person upside down, pinned between the back of the bench seat and the jamb of the rear door.

When Plush became trapped, he voice-activated the Siri function of his iPhone, which was out of his reach, to make two 911 calls asking for help, predicting his death and expressing love for his mother.

Honda spokesman Chris Martin said Thursday there were no seat-related recalls associated with the 2004 Odyssey.

All recalls that applied to the vehicle Plush died in had been repaired, he said. Honda officials checked using the VIN number supplied by authorities.

“Honda has seen media reports regarding the tragic death of a teenager in a 2004 Honda Odyssey in Cincinnati, Ohio — our hearts go out to the victim’s family during this difficult time," Martin said. "Honda does not have any specific information from which to definitively determine what occurred in this incident. We can confirm that there were no seat-related recalls affecting the 2004 Honda Odyssey.”

Honda invented the technology to fold back the rear bench seat in the early 1990s, and the feature now is standard in most minivans.

Last fall, Honda recalled 900,000 Odysseys from years 2011 to 2017, most sold in the United States, for repairing second-row seats that could flip forward if not latched.

The Japanese automaker said it was working on a repair. Until then, Honda has put instructions for properly latching the seat on its website for owners. Honda says it has received 46 reports of minor injuries related to the issue with second-row seats.