At the start of the 2025 model year, nearly all new vehicles sold will come with an electronic alert that will remind people not to leave their kids behind in the car.
Twenty automakers, amounting to 98% of new vehicles sold, have agreed to install the alerts in an effort to stop heatstroke deaths.
This year alone, 39 children have died in the U.S after being left alone in cars during hot weather. A record number of 54 children were killed last year due to heatstroke after being left in a car.
The vehicles would give drivers both visual and audible alerts to check their back seats every time they turn off their ignition.
The automakers that have signed on have said that by coming to a voluntary agreement, the process of getting the alerts installed will be quicker than a government resolution. A government resolution would take four to eight years.
The only car manufacturer that did not agree to put in the alerts was Tesla.
Several manufacturers are already implementing similar features. GM has a reminder in all of its four-door sedans, trucks, and SUV’s starting with the 2019 model year. The alert only sounds if the rear doors were opened before the trip. Hyundai has pledged to make a similar system standard on its catalogue of vehicles by 2022.
An advocacy group called Kids and Cars says that an alert every time a vehicle is turned off wouldn’t address one-third of hot car deaths, in which children get into a car on their own and become trapped. They add that for the system to be effective it will need to be able to detect the presence of a passenger in the back seat, not just suggest there might be one.
