In response to a recurring summer tragedy of babies dying in hot cars, companies are exploring ways to alert drivers if they have accidentally left precious cargo in the back seat.
Engineers at AT&T continue to work on a device with motion detectors and heat sensors that could help put an end to the hot-car deaths.
An average of 38 children in the United States die a year from hyperthermia when left in hot cars. So far this year there have been 15 deaths. One of those was in late July at Hot Springs. The numbers have decreased over the past two years, spiking in 2010 with 49 and 44 in 2013, but in most cases the death is caused by people who consider themselves loving and caring parents or guardians.
Nancy Dominguez was a 22-year-old intern with AT&T Foundry last year when she envisioned Project Car Seat as her “passion project” after brainstorming ideas with her mother at the dinner table on a way to use technology to save lives. She graduates this week from the University of Texas at Dallas with a mechanical engineering degree. She spoke with the Times Record this week by phone from Dallas.
“There are a lot of people out there who think they’re not going to need it, but I’d like for new parents to think of it as something preventative, like a seatbelt,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez knew that heat, motion and CO2 sensor technology could solve the problem. She built the prototype, and interns within Project Car Seat have continued development at the AT&T Foundry led by Michael Albrecht.
If motion is sensed in the car at a certain temperature the device will alert the parent by text or call. If there is no response after a set amount of time, a message will be sent to emergency management services, Dominguez explained. The device also could save the life of a pet left in a vehicle.
The temperature in closed cars rises quickly. On a 90-degree day the temperature can rise to 114 degrees in an closed car in just 10 minutes. Cracking the windows does little good, and it does not matter if it is a black or light colored vehicle. After an hour in 95-degree heat, the inside of a car gets to about 140 degrees.
Anita Smith, senior public relations manager for AT&T in Arkansas, said the company does not yet have the device ready for market availability. However, the AT&T Foundry innovation centers are “fast-paced and collaborative environments,” so she expects one could be available in the coming months.
There is a smartphone App at GooglePlay through Kids4Kars.org that uses Bluetooth technology to alert parents their child may still be in the back seat; Kids4Kars.org is still working on an App for iTunes.
Walmart and Evenflo announced in late July they made a new infant car seat that costs about $150 with technology designed to remind drivers of their backseat passengers. Using the same technology that alerts drivers if they are not wearing their seatbelt, or if their headlights were left on, the car seat by Evenflo has a sensor that sets off a series of tones if a child is still buckled in when the ignition is switched off.
How It Happens
Kids and Cars, a nonprofit group started by Janette Fennell in Olathe, Kan., has compiled a staggering number of stories and research about child fatalities with cars.
While rear-facing car seats are proven safer during a crash, they also increase the possibility of someone leaving a sleeping child in the car alone.
One story describes how a 6-month-old girl named Mika died from heat stroke after her father got a phone call about a possible job after having been laid off weeks before. He dropped off his older daughter. The road he normally took was blocked, so he took a detour. He stopped at the post office and ran into a friend he’d been helping with a church project. He drove to the church, and then did not realize until later that day that he never dropped Mika at daycare.
Kids and Cars’ research concludes that new parents suffer from exhaustion due to a lack of sleep, hormone changes, stress and changes in their normal routine.
“Any one of these changes can cause your memory to fail at a time you least expect it,” a news release from Kids and Cars states. “Even the best of parents and caregivers can overlook a sleeping baby in a car; and the end result can be injury or even death.”
The number of children left in hot cars is much less, however, than those killed by being backed over by a car. Twice as many children 15 and younger are also run over driving forwards.
A safety checklist calls for parents or guardians to make it a routine to open the back door of the car every time it is parked to check that no one has been left behind.
Other tips include putting something in the back seat like a cell phone, employee badge or handbag, to remind a driver to open the back door when the car is parked; and keeping a stuffed animal in the baby’s car seat to be placed on the front seat as a reminder when the baby is in the back seat.
Some comments left on Facebook regarding this subject included the suggestion of the driver leaving a shoe in the back seat when a baby is on board.
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