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Can a simple rear-door reminder save kids from being left in cars on hot days? General Motors believes so and has fitted a device to its US-based large SUV that alerts drivers to check the back seat before they leave the car.
The company says the "industry-first" feature alerts drivers who opened the back door of their vehicle at the start of a journey to check the rear seats when they switch the engine off.
GM product planning head Mark Reuss is a former Holden CEO and knows the dangers extreme temperatures in Australia and the US present to kids.
"Too many children are inadvertently left behind in vehicles, often with tragic results. It’s hard to fathom but it does happen, leading to dozens of fatal heatstrokes," Reuss says.
He cautions that the device "does not detect the presence of a child in the back seat but is a simple extra reminder to look in the rear seat on the way out of the vehicle regardless of what may be there".
He says the anti-theft motion sensors built in to GM products could in future be adapted to detect children left in parked vehicles.
Kidsafe Australia says up to 5000 children are left inside cars in Australia every year. The organisation warns that on a typical summer day, interior temperatures can be 20-30 degrees higher than outside the car — and most of the heat build-up is in the first five minutes.
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