On the first day of summer, Kids and Car Safety, a former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a neuroscientist, and a coalition of grieving families convened to urge immediate action on the overdue Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard about hot car tragedies.
At least 1,086 children have died in hot cars since 1990 in the United States, and at least another 7,500 children survived with varying types and severities of injuries, according to data collected by Kids and Car Safety, the only organization in the U.S. that is tracking both fatal and non-fatal incidents. Already this year, at least three children have lost their lives.
With a striking visual display featuring 1,086 infant onesies symbolizing the number of children’s lives lost in hot cars since 1990, the group gathered across the street from the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters building in Washington, DC. This chilling demonstration underscores the critical need for swift implementation of occupant detection and alert technology in all vehicles to prevent heartbreaking child hot car tragedies. Cost-effective safety solutions are readily available to automakers that can reduce these devastating yet preventable tragedies.
Featured at the event was a demonstration of occupant detection technology in a Kia Sorento SUV. The safety system in the Sorento has a dedicated ultrasonic sensor equipped in the rear headliner that detects any movement inside of the vehicle after a driver leaves the vehicle and provides alerts to the customer via the vehicle’s dash and the Kia access APP.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) missed the critical deadlines set by Congress in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The agency failed to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) by December 2022, and the final rule was not issued by November 2023. With children at avoidable risk of death and injury every day, it is urgent that NHTSA moves forward with issuing the overdue final rule without further delay.
The NPRM will be two years overdue in December. Once finalized, the rule will require available and affordable technology in all new cars to help end hot car deaths.
“Children do not have to die in these predictable and preventable tragedies. NHTSA continues to miss all of the deadlines set by Congress. It is beyond devastating to think that an available solution that costs less than $20 per vehicle isn’t being implemented. Floor mats cost more than occupant detection and alert systems. Yet these systems have only been installed in a few makes and models. The hot car regulation is critical, and the need is urgent. We simply cannot wait when innocent children’s lives are at risk,” said Janette Fennell, president of Kids and Car Safety.
Joan Claybrook, Former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and President Emeritus of Public Citizen, spoke at the event and said, “These deaths are appalling, and so is the apathy of the DOT. They have known about this problem for over 20 years. It took safety organizations and parents going to Congress to pass legislation directing regulatory action with a specific deadline of November 2023 for issuing a final rule. This was not an easy achievement. Despite the one-year notice of a statutory deadline, the agency has missed it, as well as other deadlines they set themselves for completing the hot car safety standard. We have affordable and available technology to both detect a child's presence and alert the driver.”
Dr. David Diamond, PhD, a professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida and neuroscientist with expertise in memory failure related to the hot car issue, spoke at the event. He said, “Police officers have forgotten their loaded weapons in public bathrooms, where children or criminals can find them. Airline pilots have forgotten to set the wing flaps properly, resulting in plane crashes and the loss of human lives. Finally, and on a personal note, 15 years ago, I, a memory expert, was driving with my wife and my month-old granddaughter and forgot she was in the back seat of our car. Thank goodness my wife alerted me. In all these cases, responsible people, unknowingly and unintentionally, have committed memory failures that can result in a catastrophe. This is why we urgently need technology to safeguard children.”
At the event, families who have suffered the loss of a child spoke about their painful loss: “On July 9, 2019, my life changed forever. That morning, my husband was supposed to take our son, Oliver, to daycare. With a change in his normal routine, he drove straight to his office without stopping at daycare,” said Jamie Dill, Kids and Car Safety parent advocate and mother of Oliver Dill. She continued, “I am standing here today to ask the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation please be the hero our children need and deserve. Now is the time to implement the hot car final rule.”
Marissa Rodriguez, mother of twins Luna and Phoenix, who died in a hot car, said, “Our hopeful day turned into the worst day of our lives. Everything shattered—my family, our carefree happiness, and our hopes and dreams for their beautiful, bright futures. Juan will never truly forgive himself, and we both struggled with our desire to stay here on earth. Today, I am calling on the NHTSA to move this final rule forward for Luna, for Phoenix, for all the children who have lost their lives, and for all of the beautiful, healthy, happy children alive today.”
Laura Beck lost her son Anderson, 18 months, to heatstroke, followed immediately by her husband Aaron's death when he realized that he never dropped their son off at daycare. At the event, Ms. Beck said, “I will work for the rest of my life to ensure this doesn’t happen to any other family. Secretary Pete Buttigieg, I have a message very specifically for you – YOU have the power to make the hot car final rule move. YOU are a loving father, just like Aaron, who would die if anything happened to your babies. If you felt the pain I live with every day for even a split second, you, too, would feel the urgency of this life-saving regulation. I beg and plead with you to please move the hot car final rule forward as your #1 priority. Innocent babies, like my son, cannot protect themselves. They are depending on YOU.”
Taylor, mother of Fiona, spoke of the loss of her daughter after her husband inadvertently left her in the car while he went to work. She said, “For years, families like mine have contacted Secretary Pete Buttigieg in unanswered letters and the NHTSA and DOT officials to ask for their leadership to move forward with the final rule. Receiving no response has been a painful slap in the face. Learning that occupant detection systems can be added to vehicles for less than $20 was debilitating. I wish to ask DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg – are your children worth it? NHTSA Administrator Sophie Shulman, is your child worth it? There is no reason any other child should lose their life when the technology to save them already exists.”
For more information, please visit Kids and Car Safety's website or contact us for interviews. Families throughout the U.S. will be available in select markets for interviews.