Technology aims to reverse hot-car deaths among children

"It was a few days after her first birthday," said Deona Bien, whose daughter died from being left in the car.

It happened in February 2004 in Hawaii. Bien says her daughter, Aslyn, was in the back seat and the babysitter was driving a different car than usual.

"Aslyn's car seat was positioned directly behind her versus where she was normally sitting in the routine car that she had been in," Bien said. "That made it very easily to be overlooked while she was in the car."

Aslyn was left in the car for 50 minutes before the babysitter realized her mistake. It was too late. Aslyn was rushed to the hospital, where she died two days later.

"As a parent, you’re in shock," Bien said. "You’re trying to understand what happened. How could this happen?"

Amber Rollins, director of Kids and Car Safety, said 40 children die each year on average in hot cars in the United States. She said it happens to even the most attentive parents, and the major culprit is often a change in routine.

"If you always drop the baby first and then go to school for drop-off, if you switch that order and you drop off (at) school first, what do you do next?" Rollins said. "On any given day, you go straight to work from that location."

Experts say even if the temperature outside is only 70 degrees, inside the car, it will top 100 degrees within 30 minutes, and according to medical experts, a child’s body overheats three to five times faster than an adult, making it a deadly combination.

"The first fatality of the year this year happened on a day when it was in the 60s outside," Rollins said.

Most cars made in the last few years have something called an end-of-trip reminder, a message on the dashboard telling drivers to check the back seat.  But Rollins said it’s minimally effective since it doesn’t address children who get into vehicles on their own. That accounts for about a quarter of hot-car deaths, she said, and the majority of those are boys. 

Toyota is one of the carmakers with some advanced technology. It has a radar system that scans the cabin to detect any people or pets accidentally left behind. The company calls it the Advanced Rear Seat Reminder.

"Let’s say there was a child under a blanket or if it was dimly lit, it would be able to detect movement as well," said Jason Maxim, a vehicle product training specialist for Toyota.

It can even detect micro movements, he said, down to breathing or a heartbeat. Once the engine is off and the driver leaves, the car will first beep. Then 90 seconds later, the horn sounds, all followed by a series of texts and push notifications and, finally, a phone call.

Here are some tips to avoid leaving a child in a hot car:

• Look before you lock. Make it a habit of always checking the back seat every time you park. 
• Put a must-have item in the back seat such as an employee badge, laptop, smartphone or purse.
• You can also place the child’s diaper bag or teddy bear in the front passenger seat as a visual reminder.
• Keep your vehicles locked at all times. 
• Never leave keys within reach of children.

"My daughter would have been 22 this year," Bien recalled.

Decades later, the Kansas City mom keeps her daughter’s memory alive by sharing her story with the hopes of keeping more children out of danger.

"I may never know the faces or the names of the children that have been saved from my daughter's story. but I know that it's happened," she said.