An advocate group that aims to have new rules implemented to prevent hot car deaths has reached out to General Motors CEO Mary Barra to help further their cause.
The group, KidsAndCars.org, has created a bill that it calls the Hot Cars Act of 2019, which would require all new vehicles to come equipped with a sensor and alarm that would go off if a child was detected in the back of a vehicle while it was turned off. It also proposes that the system contact authorities in such an instance.
According to ABC, the company has been working to convince legislators to put the bill forth, but has not had any luck thus far. They have now reached out to GM CEO Mary Barra over the matter and asked the executive to consider installing such technology in all of its vehicles from now on.
The automaker introduced a Rear Seat Reminder system in 2017, which will alert the driver if it believes they have left a child or pet in the back seat. The system detects whether the vehicle’s rear doors have been opened and sends a chime and visual alert to the driver when they shut the car off, reminding them to check the rear for pets or children.
As of August 19, KidsAndCars.org said ten kids had been killed in hot cars in the past twenty days alone.
“The numbers continue to rise,” said organization representative Amber Rollins. “Legislators need to be aware of this issue and how serious it is and they want to hear from their constituents.”
Auto industry reps allegedly told KidsAndCars.org that there would be reliable way to implement such a system and prefers to support awareness campaigns surrounding hot car deaths as opposed to supporting mandator technology.
“The auto industry believes education and awareness are the answer,” she told ABC. “And we have been educating and raising awareness for twenty years.”
Hyundai and Kia have a rear occupant alert system on their vehicles, which use ultrasonic sensors to detect movement in the back seats and send a reminder to the driver when they shut off the vehicle. If the driver leaves the shut off vehicle and movement in the rear seats is still detected, the vehicle will honk its horn, flash its lights and send an alert to the driver’s smartphone via the automaker’s connectivity system.
KidsAndCars.org says 35 hot car deaths involving children have been recorded so far in 2019.
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Source: ABC
Comments
Planet Earth is absolutely doomed.
Some people are now requiring vehicle manufacturers to have an alarm go off if the vehicle’s owner leaves a child or pet in a hot car? Can anybody think for themselves anymore?! Put down the damn cellphone and focus on the task at hand. We already have tire pressure sensors for the lazy folks that don’t notice their car lying on the rim with a flat Goodyear. We have oil life monitors for the lazy folks that forget when their oil change is due. We have stereos for unintelligent people that tell them to “Check the Backseat for Children” when turning off and exiting a vehicle.
Animals actually take better care of their young, than some people do. I thought humans were supposed to be the most intelligent lifeforms on Earth? I stand corrected.
Too often these are not really accidental deaths. Today we value life so little people will do some terrible things and claim them accidents.
The problem is we hold no one responsible anymore accept coperations. We pass the blame off to everyone and anyone we can. You take drugs it because of your parents, you have an accident it is the car companies falt you got killed becasue it had too much power but you did not wear a belt. etc.
We teach nothing of accepting responsibilty for your own actions anymore and this is what you get.
Same thing on guns. We want to do all sorts of things to guns but it is a society problem not a gun problem. We value life so little anymore. We want to kill JR before he is born and off grand pa because he is old and costing society money. Then we wonder why people leave kids in cars or drive them into lakes strapped in.
Life is is the greatest thing we have in life and we treat it like dirt. If not for Narcan how many more bodies?
so you want to turn this into a gun debate?
you don’t think easy access to a device designed to kill with speed and efficiency isn’t a problem?
a lot of countries have already solved this problem but hey, let’s play the odds. in a country with a population of 300 million, it will probably somebody else’s loved one getting killed.
No it just happens to be the latest form of mass attack. It has been trucks in France, Dodges in Virginia, fertilizer in Kansas City and air planes in NYC. Drugs everywhere.
The fact is people just do not value life as they should. Even the Hey watch this YouTube web people hold little value of their own.
No one has solved anything as long as we keep killing each other and even ourselves
More people die due to automobile accidents than murder with a firearm. More than twice the amount. If we add gang murders, then it becomes roughly 10 times the amount.
Also you are partially correct on one thing. Easy access to firearms by mentally unstable people is a severe problem. Now the background checks on guns don’t bother me as a mentally stable and actual productive member of society, a few extra minutes and I still leave with it. There’s variables in there but it’s not important right now. The problem arises when the government agencies that are supposed to report these things, for purposes of something like a background check, do not. I remember specifically John Kasich signed executive orders demanding govt agencies do what they were already supposed to do and report those things. I believe a large number of other states did as well.
But another thing you touched on, the total population of a country. A country with 350 million people in it has a much higher chance of diverse problems such as public health or crime, versus a place like New Zealand where only 6 million people reside.
One final note, the CDC did a study and found that in the US, firearms are used defensively 600,000 to 3 million times annually. The figure being vague as theres no federal standard which constitutes the defensive use of a firearm. I’d say even at the minimum of 600,000 defensive acts vs the annual murder count of 11,000-13,000, gang related murders included, firearms save more lives than they take. Good people defending themselves and their families should not be banned.
Hey Kidsncars, do you think Barra actually gives a damn about you or anyone else’s kids but her own?
Let’s just assume not everyone is a murderer and that accidents can happen. Whether it be kids or far more commonly pets, Hyundai and Kia have the technology and have installed it and GM has something very similar in their Theft Deterrent system on their full size SUVs. Whether people intend to murder their children or pets or accidentally forget about them, the technology is available to prevent either from occurring. Whether or not it is legislation or simply consumer pressure to make this standard equipment on new vehicles I will let you guys debate.
INFAMOUS said it best.
“It also proposes that the system contact authorities in such an instance.”
Because I really need authorities called to break into my car to retrieve whatever heavy thing I’ve placed in a bag on my rear seat that moves around during transit that it thinks is a child I’ve carelessly left behind…
So gm is now responsible for dumb owners who leave pets or people in hot cars… I bet in Alaska gm is getting sued for cold car death incidents…. somehow always GM’s fault.