Baby In Hot Car Reminder Devices

cfnews13 ^ | 09/06/07 | AP

[darkwing104]

There are two parts to the device -- a metal plate under the child's seat and an attachment to your keys. An alarm sounds when the keys and the metal plate are 15 feet away from each other.

This ought to be mandatory in the manufacture and sales of new baby seats. The device needs to be tamper proof and with an On-star system if the temp reaches a certain point while the seat is occupied. Some people are just plain too stupid to have children, at least we can try and save the child.

[netmilsmom]

We disabled the airbag and put the baby in the front seat.

I did my first trip with my four day old baby moving from Cleveland to Detroit. She started to cough and I nearly took out two cars on the turnpike trying to get to the side of the road to get her. Never again. Both my girls rode right next to me until they were old enough for a booster seat in the back.

[Midtowngirl]

Maybe I'm a cynic, but I believe in every case the child was left in the car deliberately. Maybe they didn't want to wake a sleeping child, maybe they thought they would only be a few minutes, maybe they were just plain stupid. I hate to think they had more sinister motives, but that too is a possibility. No "reminder" to the driver would have saved these children.

One possible solution would be to have a sensor that would notify local police or sound an alarm so that passers by would notice. That might help.

[Mr. Jeeves]

News 13's Karent Castillo turned on a faucet in a kitchen sink. At its hottest temperature, it reached 120 degrees. If you put your hand under the water for more than five minutes, it would become a third-degree burn. This is the same temperature that detectives said the 22-month-old girl felt while inside her mother's car Tuesday.

Please don't let journalists play scientist any more. Please? That has to be the stupidest comparison I've ever read - or otherwise I wasn't aware the residents of Phoenix, Arizona get third-degree burns every time they go to the grocery store in the summer. ;)

[TornadoAlley3]

Winknews.com Florida Toddler Dies After Being Left in Hot Car Outside City Hall
FOX News - 22 hours ago
A toddler died Tuesday after she was left unattended in a car parked outside City Hall, police said. The child’s mother was supposed to take her ...

Salem-News.Com Father Leaves Baby In Hot Car AT Brothel
HULIQ, NC - 13 hours ago
Father in Hennepin County leaves 2-year old baby daughter in sweltering hot car outside brothel. The security guard found the baby in Nevada, inside the car ...

WSBtv.com No Charges Filed Against Assistant Principal In Hot-Car Death
WCPO, OH - 22 hours ago
Clermont County Prosecutor Don White announced Tuesday that there will be no criminal charges filed against Brenda Slaby in connection with the hot-car ...

No charges filed against mother in toddler’s death in hot car WDTN
Mom escapes charges in toddler’s hot-car death Columbus Dispatch
Prosecutor: No Charges For Mother In Toddler’s Hot Car Death WLWT

Peninsula Mother Charged In Son’s Hot Car Death
CBS 5, CA - Sep 4, 2007
The child was determined to be unhurt, but minutes after the door was opened, police measured the temperature inside the car at 125 degrees, according to ...
Burlingame mother charged for leaving toddler in hot car San Jose Mercury New

WFtv.com Firefighters Rescue Baby Accidentally Locked In Hot Car
WFtv.com, FL - Sep 4, 2007
There were some scary moments for a grandmother in Ormond Beach on Tuesday after she accidentally locked her 15-month-old grandchild in a hot car. ...

Baby Dies In Hot Car
Central Florida News 13|, FL - Sep 4, 2007
A 16-month-old baby is dead after being left in a hot car in Orange County. Ocoee Police said the baby’s mother works for the city. ...

Police rescue child from hot car, arrest mother
Ventura County Star, CA - Sep 4, 2007
Oxnard police on Monday evening freed a 1-year-old boy from a hot car and arrested his mother on suspicion of child endangerment, authorities said. ...

[jiggyboy]

News 13's Karent Castillo turned on a faucet in a kitchen sink. At its hottest temperature, it reached 120 degrees. If you put your hand under the water for more than five minutes, it would become a third-degree burn. This is the same temperature that detectives said the 22-month-old girl felt while inside her mother's car Tuesday.

A shocking display of the lack of even the most rudimentary knowledge of heat transfer. Maybe she also thinks that you'll die in fifteen minutes if you stand outside when it's below freezing.

[Scotswife]

The more I read about this the more I’m convinced we all lead lives that are way too busy.
Too much on our minds - too many things to do - always in a rush.

[elizabetty]

Baby In Hot Car Reminder Devices

Would those be a brain, conscience and soul?

[Ingtar]

Would parents need an alert device to change the diapers, too?

Patented diaper alarm Patented since 1980.

[massgopguy]

That figure from Kids in Cars is wrong. According to the web-site there have been over 500 incidents as of August with 145 deaths.

[Mygirlsmom]

You and MGD think alike He says the problem with the world today is there aren’t enough catapults :o)

[Ingtar]

I have one of those. Here in Memphis, it is not going to take the car below the unsafe level when it is 105 out, but it does help.

[tiki]

Exactly, when my kids or my grandkids were in my vehicle I was usually talking to them and if they went to sleep, I was checking them out in the rear view mirror.

Who can resist watching a sleeping child anyway?

We lived a long way from everything and spent a lot of time in the car and took that opportunity to learn or just have conversations. I really don’t understand how anyone could not know their child is in the car.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Thanks for saying what I was thinking.

That little demonstration proved one thing...that Karent Castillo is an idiot.

[kitkat]

There were several suggestions by Freepers on another thread on this subject, one of which is:

Put your brief case or purse next to the baby, and you WILL remember that the baby is in the car.

[scan59]

Trouble with the device is that most people leave car seats buckled in the car. To install a car seat correctly usually requires putting your knee on it and pressing down while buckling the seat belt. If people have to remove the car seat each time, it’ll end up being set up loosely and the baby will move violently in the event of a crash.

[generally]

Excellent post. Excellent poster.

I, too, cannot imagine leaving my child in the car either on purpose or because I forgot. I have to wonder if anyone ever really forgets or if that is just the excuse they give because it sounds less horrible than admitting they left them there on purpose.

On the other hand, when I was a kid, my parents often left us in the car while they ran into the store, though never in high heat where we could have died. I never felt abused or neglected and still don’t.

It seems rather draconian to have both parents in jail. The idea that the government could take away my kids and lock me up for something like this is a little scary. I think “best interest of the child” should be the guiding principle. Certainly in some cases the best interest of the child is served by removing them from the parents, but I’d have to know a lot more before I’d remove them in a case that didn’t involve deliberate and/or repeated abuse.

[Sax]

French Hot Car Child Restraint Device:

[jiggyboy]

I talked to a tow truck driver who had to respond to a call of a kid locked in a car. He spent about 30 minutes trying to get in because the kid kept pushing the locking mechanism back down.....

In all seriousness that's better than coming up and the first thing he sees is the kid sprawled out and motionless, then just that quick he's the one on the spot.

[davisfh]

These devices are NOT air conditioners and must not be relied on to keep the vehicle cool. All they will do is circulate a little ambient air into and out of the car.

My wife and I have a little dog that we take along when we travel. Our solution to this problem is to take along a spare set of keys, keep the vehicle running and the air conditioner on. We lock the vehicle when we leave it and the pooch stays nice and cool.

Do this only during daylight hours and in well traveled areas, though, or you might return and find your vehicle gone.