Cheryl McCloud USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida- So far in 2025, 27 babies and children have died in hot cars.
- Children are extremely susceptible to death if left in a vehicle.
- Almost half of the children who died this year were unknowingly left in a vehicle.
Twenty-seven babies and children.
The number could reflect a classroom full of future scientists, astronauts, bankers, police officers, teachers or builders.
Instead, it's the number of those who have no future.
That's how many of our youth have died so far this year after dying in a hot car.
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Some were unintentionally left in the vehicle. Others managed to get into a vehicle without an adult being aware. Some were intentionally left in a vehicle.
One 18-month-old boy died in Ormond Beach.
"Since 1990, at least 1,157 children have died in hot cars in the United States and at least another 7,500 survived with varying degrees of injury" according to data compiled by Kids and Car Safety.
Children are extremely susceptible to death if left in a vehicle or if they manage to get into one undetected. What some may find surprising is that it doesn't take a 90-degree-plus day for temperatures inside a car to become deadly.
“A child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult’s and when a child is left in a hot vehicle, the situation could become life-threatening very quickly,” says Lori Cook, safety advisor, AAA East Central.
AAA said heatstroke is the leading cause of non-crash vehicle fatalities for kids 14 and younger.
How many babies, children have died this year in hot cars?
As of Sept. 3, 27 have died so far this year, according to Kids and Car Safety. Ages range from 3 months to 9 years old.
The breakdown on how kids have died in hot cars in 2025
According to information compiled by Kids and Car Safety, children and infants have died in hot cars this year by:
- Unknowingly left: 12
- Left: 12
- Gained access: 2
- Unknown: 1
Map: Deaths of babies, children from pediatric vehicular heatstroke not limited to southern states
See 2025 hot car deaths by state, including 1 in Florida
Here's the breakdown by state of the 2025 deaths of children in hot vehicles, as compiled by Kids and Car Safety:
➤ Boy lay dead in hot car for at least an hour before dad called 911
- Texas: 8
- San Antonio
- Rockwall
- Frisco
- Poteet
- San Antonio
- Galena Park
- Mission
- Brownsville
- California: 4
- El Centro
- Alta Sierra
- Bakersfield
- Paso Robles
- Maryland: 2
- Belcamp
- Silver Spring
- Florida: 1
- Nebraska: 1
- Hastings
- Alabama: 1
- Birmingham
- South Carolina: 1
- Williamsburg County
- Virginia: 1
- Amherst County
- Maine: 1
- Milford
- Iowa: 1
- West Des Moines
- Ohio: 1
- Mansfield
- Georgia: 1
- Metter
- North Carolina: 1
- Hamlet
- Louisiana: 1
- Hammond
- New Mexico: 1
- Albuquerque
- New Jersey: 1
- Lakewood
Hot car deaths '100% preventable.' How to prevent deaths of children in vehicles
Kids and Car Safety provided these suggestions to prevent children from being forgotten and dying of pediatric vehicular heatstroke:
- Place the child’s diaper bag or item in the front passenger seat as a visual cue the child is with you.
- Make it a habit of opening the back door every time you park to ensure no one is left behind. Do not assume you'll remember your child. Enforce the habit by putting an item you must have in the back seat: employee badge, laptop, phone, purse, keys, shoe, etc.)
- Ask your childcare provider to call you right away if your child hasn’t arrived as scheduled.
- Clearly announce and confirm who is getting each child out of the vehicle. Miscommunication can lead to thinking someone else has the child.
Make sure children cannot get into a parked car
- Keep vehicles locked at all times, especially in the garage or driveway. Ask neighbors and visitors to do the same.
- Never leave car keys within reach of children.
- Use childproofing knob covers and door alarms to prevent children from leaving your home unnoticed.
- Teach children to honk the horn or turn on hazard lights if they become stuck inside a car.
- If a child is missing, immediately check the inside, floorboards and trunk of all vehicles in the area, even if they’re locked.
Heat death can happen fast inside a vehicle and cracking a window doesn't help
On a 72-degree day, a car's interior can be deadly in less than 30 minutes, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The danger from high temperatures is particularly acute for young children because their bodies heat up three to five times faster than adult bodies, the American Academy of Pediatrics said.
Heatstroke in children can happen when their core temperature reaches about 104 degrees. A child can die if their internal body temperature reaches 107 degrees, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Leaving a window open is not enough. Temperatures inside the car can rise almost 20 degrees within the first 10 minutes, even with a window cracked open, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Signs of heatstroke in children
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, signs of heatstroke that require immediate medical attention include:
- shock
- collapse
- a temperature over 104 degrees
- fainting
- seizures
- not being able to walk
"Before severe heatstroke, children in hot cars suffer from heat illness symptoms, including weakness, dizziness, nausea, feeling faint, headache and an increased body temperature."
https://www.newsherald.com/story/news/2025/09/03/hot-car-deaths-babies-children-ormond-beach-florida-us-texas-california-list-locations/85946983007/
