Hot cars can be a threat for children even during the cooler months of the year, according to new findings released today by Consumer Reports. The new warning for parents states that even though the hot summer months have ended, the temperatures inside a closed car can still rise to potentially fatal levels for young children.
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The 5 worst car seat mistakes parents are making
After the other driver ran a red light and plowed into her minivan, Christine Miller of Santa Clarita, Calif., looked in the back seat for her son Kyle, but he had been thrown from the vehicle and was gone forever.“If the scars on my heart were visible, people would gasp every time they saw me,” says Miller. Three-year-old Kyle was sitting in a legal booster seat and strapped in by a seat belt at the time of the collision. “Had I just known about the dangers of booster seats for toddlers, had somebody warned me, I would have kept him in a five-point harness car seat,” says Miller. “That’s the dagger that twists in my heart.” She’s not alone. Car accidents are the No. 1 killer of children ages 0 to 19 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Safe Kids Worldwide says car seats can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71 percent, but they have to be installed and used correctly. More than half of them aren’t.
Forgetting a Child in a Back Seat Can Kill. Cars May Soon Warn You.
At least 41 children have died of heatstroke this year after being left in the back seat of a parked vehicle. Since 1990, when the annual number of vehicular heatstroke victims was first recorded, more than 800 children have died in hot parked cars.
Hot car deaths can happen year round, Consumer Reports finds
A new Consumer Report report states that hot car deaths can happen all year round HOT CARS Act Gathers Steam in Senate
It's rare to hear of an issue getting support on both sides of the aisle in Washington these days, but preventing children from dying of heatstroke in cars is one of those issues. The Helping Overcome Trauma for Children Alone in Rear Seats (HOT CARS) Act of 2017 is getting attention from Republicans and Democrats. The proposal, which mandates that all cars be equipped with technology that alerts drivers when a passenger remains in the backseat after a car is turned off, just took another critical step toward becoming a reality.
Hot Car Fatalities Are Year-Round Threat to Children and Pets
Even on mild weather days, the temperature inside a closed vehicle can reach dangerous levels within an hour, posing major health risks to small children or pets left inside, Consumer Reports testing shows. Summer has officially ended, but parents and others still must be vigilant about the ongoing danger of hot cars.
