Southern California has been subject to scorching weather, bringing triple-digit temperatures and heat advisories in eastern San Diego County communities. In response to the rising temperatures, the national nonprofit organization Kids and Cars Safety aims to find ways to prevent hot car deaths.
Multiple solutions have been proposed to avert a hot car death before they occur. Some of the options include carbon dioxide detection, lidar or light detection and ranging technology, car alarm systems, car camera systems, and car seats with weight sensors.
The non-profit highlights a new concept by Toyota called “Cabin Awareness”, which would use radar technology, powered in part by the car’s battery to notify drivers who have left a Toyota vehicle if anyone remained inside the car. According to Brian Kursar, chief technology officer for Toyota Connected North America and Toyota Motor North America, “cabin awareness” could link up to a cell phone, or smart device to send notifications, and ultimately contact emergency services when alerts go unanswered.
“Based on our algorithms, we’re able to understand where in the vehicle that movement is coming from. And then we’re able to now take a number of options to escalate, to let the customer know that there is life potentially at risk in a vehicle,” Kursar said.
According to Kids and Cars safety, “Cabin Awareness” is not available in Toyota vehicles just yet, and the timeline for a potential roll-out will depend on testing results. There have been seven hot car deaths that occurred this year, according to the non-profit.
“I think the No.1 misconception is that this will never happen to me and that it only happens to bad parents and nothing could be further from the truth,” director at Kids and Cars Safety Amber Rollins told Good Morning America. “I’ve worked with families that this has happened to for 16 years and they are engineers, school teachers, principals, nurses, doctors, you name it. It’s the type of person that I aspire to be as a parent, the kind that read every safety book about the most expensive car seat and strapped him in so tight and covered every outlet. That’s the kind of person this is happening to.”
Rollins said hot car deaths have also been trending upwards for the last three decades, except in the past two years of the pandemic when more families stayed at home. The nonprofit also found that over 1,000 children, mostly ages three and under, have died from heatstroke from being inside a hot car since 1990.
“In the ’90s, we realized children were being killed by overpowered airbags and children are still safer riding in the back seat. We moved them to the back seat because that’s where they’re the safest. However, now they’re out of sight of the driver,” Rollins explained. “So they’re in the back seat, they’re rear-facing now until age 3 or even longer, depending on the child's size. And that car seat looks the same for the driver whether there’s a baby in there or not.”
According to the nonprofit, parents should adopt the “look before you lock” habit, use visual reminders, enlist help from others and educate children about the hazards of hot cars. Gadgets such as inexpensive stick-on door alarms could be used to help alert parents if there are people in the car.
