Unattended Child Reminder Systems

These activities include:

• Heatstroke related fatalities occur to children left in motor vehicles. Heatstroke related child fatalities occurred in the United States on average 38 times each year since 1998 (Aiello, 2014). A similar review has found 794 fatalities have occurred since 1998 and 51 deaths were documented in 2018 (noheatstroke.org). While less frequent than crash fatalities, virtually all of these deaths are preventable.
• In about three-fourths of these tragedies, the children were left in the vehicle by adults. One study found 27% of heat related pediatric deaths occurred when children gained access to unlocked vehicles, and 73% of the cases were when children were left by adults (Guard, 2005). While about half of the children left by adults were forgotten, the others were left for what was intended to be a short/safe time period.
• Dangerous temperature levels can be reached in vehicles quickly. Research has shown that cars can reach injurious and lethal temperature levels quickly. Previous modeling efforts have calculated, for example, that in Austin, Texas, in August, an infant could suffer from heat stroke within 105 minutes and death within 125 minutes of being left in a closed vehicle. In the winter, an infant left in a vehicle at 8:00 am could reach temperatures to cause heat stroke and death before 2:00 pm (Grundstein, 2014). Even at relatively cool ambient temperatures the rate of temperature rise in the vehicle was not significantly different from the rate at higher ambient temperatures and reached 117 degrees F (McClaren, 2005).
• Technologies to address this issue have begun to be offered in the marketplace, but there is no mandate for their use. Systems range from reminders, such as bracelets, to weight sensing child restraints and comprehensive vehicle systems integrated into the Internet of Things (IoT – the concept of Internet-connected devices).
• Currently there are no government or industry standards for device performance and reliability. Consensus methods need to be developed to evaluate these prevention devices for accuracy and reliability and these methods should be incorporated into relevant standards.
• Further progress is needed to prevent injury and death in children forgotten and left behind in motor vehicles. While new technologies are being brought to market, child reminder and heatstroke prevention systems in vehicles have previously been documented to have inconsistent and unreliable performance (Rudd, 2015; Arbogast, 2012). AAAM shares NHTSA’s goal that unattended child reminder systems would ideally incorporate the following features:

• • No effect on child restraint crash performance
  • Minimal additional action from the driver/parent/user to operate following initial installation;
  • Provide feedback to the user to confirm functionality;
  • Provide an end-of-trip convenience reminder and a left-behind alert;
  • Incorporate fail-safe features; and
  • Include robust operating capabilities – battery life, temperature range, appropriate child size, etc.
    

(7) Ongoing research is needed to understand nature of the problem and drive development and verification of effective interventions

• Enhanced data collection regarding the scope of this problem through incident investigation and sharing of databases such as the one maintained by Golden Gate Weather at https://www.noheatstroke.org/
• Development of effective education and advocacy strategies that will complement the technology.
• Research to understand and mitigate for child caregiver behavior which causes or contributes to this issue.

Aiello, V., Borazjani, P., Battista, E., Albanese, M. (2014). Next-Generation Technologies for Preventing Accidental Death of Children Trapped in Parked Vehicles. IEEE IRI 2014, August 13-15, 2014 San Francisco, California, USA, 978-1-4799-5880-1/14/

Rudd, R., Prasad, A., Weston, D., & Wietholter, K. (July 2015). Functional assessment of unattended child reminder systems. (Report No. DOT HS 812 187). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Arbogast, K., Belwadi, A, Allison, M. (July 2012). Reducing the Potential for Heat Stroke to Children in Parked Motor Vehicles: Evaluation of Reminder Technology. (Report No. DOT HS 811 632). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Thomas, E. Evenflo SensorSafe Car Seat Alerts Parents to Presence of Child Still in the Car. Consumer Reports at https://www.consumerreports.org/car-seats/evenflo-sensorsafe-car-seat-alerts-parents-to-presence-of-child-in-car/, Accessed on 8/7/2018

Guard, S, Gallager, S., Heat related deaths to young children in parked cars: analysis of 171 fatalities in the United States, 1995–2002. Injury Prevention. 2005; 11:33-37. doi: 10.1136/ip.2003.004044

Grundstein, A, Duzinski, S, Dolinak, D, Null, J, Iyer, S. Evaluating infant core temperature response in a hot car using a heat balance model. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2014; DOI 10.1007/s12024-014-9619-7

McClaren, C, Null, J, Quinn, J, Heat Stress From Enclosed vehicles: Moderate Ambient Temperatures Cause Significant Temperature Rise in Enclosed Vehicles. Pediatrics 2005 Vol 116; 109

Khamil, K, Rahman, S, Gambilok, M. Babycare Alert System for Prevention of Child Left in a Parked Vehicle. ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences. 2015; 10:22. ISSN 1819-6608

No Heatstroke website at http://noheatstroke.org/Heatstroke_Trends_2018.pdf, accessed 2/14/19

The following resources are from our partner Safe Kids. 

Last year, 51 children died in hot cars in the U.S., the highest number on record since 1989. We know this is 100 percent preventable. We know that disseminating key messages that resonate with parents and caregivers is important, but we’ve also seen that empowering bystanders to call 911 when they see a child unattended in a car has proven to be the best line of defense to save lives. Everyone can play a role in saving a child’s life if they are given permission to take action.    

Most people assume that the parent who is responsible for the death of a child is a bad parent, however in many cases these are loving, caring, educated and trustworthy individuals who had a change in routine, got distracted, sleep deprived, stressed, multi-tasking or all the above. This could happen to anyone, it could happen to you.   

Since 1989, almost 800 children have died of heatstroke when they were unattended in vehicles. On average, 38 children die each year in one of three ways:

• 54 percent were left unknowingly in vehicles when the driver became distracted at the destination and forgot there was a child in the vehicle.
• 27 percent the child gained access to an unlocked vehicle and could not get out.
• 18 percent the driver knowingly left the child in the vehicle while they did something else, such as running an errand.

We need your help to spread the word about the dangers of children unattended in hot cars to your state and local stakeholders. In this letter, you’ll find a few ways you can share key messages about how to keep kids safe.

How You Can Help

Resources

• Share Safe Kids tips: https://bit.ly/1QytGhM
• Share Safe Kids infographic: https://bit.ly/2VCjzQy
• Share key safety messages on Twitter and Facebook

Social Media Posts

Here are some social media posts you can use on your channels to help spread the word.

Facebook:

• We’re joining with @SafeKidsWorldwide and @AAAMfeed to keep kids safe from heatstroke. Learn what you can do, and how to spread the word so that everyone knows to ACT if they see a child alone in a car. http://bit.ly/1gy2XPR
• Heatstroke doesn’t only happen on hot days. Children are still at risk even in cooler temperatures because of how quickly a car can heat up. If you see a child alone in a car, call 911. You don’t know how long they’ve been there, so don’t waste any time. You can save a life. http://bit.ly/1gy2XPR
• Your car heats up faster than you think. The inside temperature can rise 19 degrees in 10 minutes so before you know it cars can become unsafe for children and pets. Never leave a child or a pet alone in a car, not even for a minute. http://bit.ly/1gy2XPR
• What should you do if you see a child alone in a car? Dial 911. Emergency personnel are trained to respond. http://bit.ly/1gy2XPR

Twitter:

• If you see a child alone in a car, call 911. Experts will know what to do. You could save a life: http://bit.ly/1Rya76V
• In just 10 minutes a car’s temperature can increase by 19 degrees – and it continues to rise #heatstroke http://bit.ly/1dtPS9M
• #Heatstroke can happen to anyone, anywhere. Learn tips so it doesn’t happen to you or your loved ones: http://bit.ly/1fT7GgB
• Tip: Make sure to keep your car locked when you’re not in it so kids don’t get in on their own. http://bit.ly/1gy2XPR #heatstroke
• Every 10 days a child dies from being left in a hot car. Help prevent #heatstroke. http://bit.ly/1fT7GgB
• More than half of reported #heatstroke deaths occurred when a distracted caregiver forgot their child was in the car http://bit.ly/1fT7GgB
• We can cut down the number of #heatstroke deaths and near-misses by remembering to ACT! Find out how http://bit.ly/1gy2XPR
• Remember to never leave a child alone in a car – not even for a minute! http://bit.ly/1fT7GgB #heatstroke
• Help us spread the word to prevent #heatstroke. http://bit.ly/1fT7GgB
• What should you do if you see a child alone in a hot car? Dial 911 immediately. http://bit.ly/1gy2XPR #heatstroke