Washington ? Kids are warned against riding large all-terrain vehicles meant for adults. But many ignore the advice, lured by the exhilaration of speeding along a dirt road or four-wheeling through the woods.

The combination of inexperienced drivers on a fast and powerful machine has led to more injuries and deaths, prompting the government to explore ways to make ATVs safer.

The chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has ordered a review of voluntary standards and safety proposals for ATVs, with particular attention to protecting young riders. In the past, Hal Stratton has supported industry guidelines and rider education rather than more federal involvement.

The review follows years of sobering statistics about ATV accidents and a lobbying campaign by safety groups, parents of ATV victims and some U.S. lawmakers.

Adult-size ATVs from major manufacturers have labels that say children younger than 16 should not operate the vehicles because there is increased chance of “severe injury or death.”

The industry’s voluntary rules say dealers should tell customers about the risks for children when riding large ATVs. But that advice often is not given or followed.

Youngsters under 16 accounted for about a third of the nearly 6,000 ATV deaths and 125,500 hospital emergency room visits reported since 1982, according to the commission. In fatal accidents where the engine size and driver age are known, 86 percent involved children on adult-size ATVs.

Sue DeLoretto-Rabe’s 10-year-old son, Kyle, was killed in May 2002 after the ATV he was riding flipped on top of him. His mother said the salesman never mentioned the potential dangers.

“We were horribly uninformed,” said DeLoretto-Rabe, of Turner, Ore.

The commission will study design standards for vehicle speed and stability. At the same time, the agency is expected to rule this summer on a request to ban the sale of adult-size ATVs intended to be used by youngsters.

A report by commission staff in February advised against such a ban. Restricting sales would not necessarily keep children off the larger vehicles, the staff said, because the government cannot control what adults do with their four-wheelers after buying them.

The government commission estimates more than 6 million four-wheelers were in use in 2003, twice as many as five years earlier.