At least four young children have died in the last week after being left in hot cars during scorching heat waves.
CNN reports, “A 2-month-old in New Jersey, a 2-year-old in Arizona, and a 5-year-old in Nebraska died after being left in vehicles in the heat. The deaths have prompted renewed calls for safety awareness as a record-setting heat wave continues to grip much of the nation.”
After CNN’s report, the safety organization Kids and Car Safety reported the death of a 1-year-old in a hot car in Fairfield, Illinois.
It Happens Fast
A parked car is a metal box with glass windows that amplify the sun’s heat. Safety advocates from Kids and Car Safety note, “Even with the windows cracked, the temperature inside a car can reach 125 degrees in minutes.” Eighty percent of that heating happens in the first 10 minutes.
Improving Technology Races Climbing Temperatures
NPR notes, “Last year was the hottest year on record for the world. The U.S. is warming up at a faster rate than the global average.” At least six states, as far apart as California and Maryland, have seen recorded-breaking temperatures in recent weeks.
Yet, the number of children killed in hot cars has fallen in recent years. Kids and Car Safety reported 54 hot car deaths in 2018. After that, numbers started to fall. The group reported 29 such deaths last year.
Publicity campaigns to help caregivers understand the threat may be helping. But so is new technology – many of today’s new cars come with rear seat reminder technology that prompts drivers to remember passengers and pets before they leave their cars.
Government Moving Slowly On Regulations
But the technology can vary widely from car to car. Some include an audible beep or even a voice reminding drivers to check the rear seat. Others display a simple line of text that drivers may not notice.
Related: Rear Seat Reminder – How It Works And Why You Need It
In the automotive industry, it’s common for automakers to take widely varied approaches to new technologies. Some develop advanced safety systems and advertise them heavily. Others develop less-effective imitations and advertise them with similar names.
When a government agency enacts a test they must pass, the industry tends to converge on the more effective solution. That’s what happened with mandatory traction control, for instance, and what advocates hope will happen now that the government plans to require automatic emergency braking in new cars after 2029.
Kids and Car Safety says that should be happening with rear seat reminder tech. “A provision was passed in November 2021 as a part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a regulation by November 2023 for technology in all new cars to help prevent hot car deaths,” the group notes. “The final rule is now nearly a year overdue from the Congressionally-mandated deadline.”
