Hot car deaths are a terrible tragedy that takes the lives of children mistakenly left behind in cars and even school buses around the world.
On average, 38 children die each year in a hot car in the U.S., which is the only country with reliable data. The worst years in history were 2018 and 2019, with 53 fatalities each.
In Europe, fatalities were recently reported in France and Poland, but there is no systematic data record on these incidents. In Japan, a little girl was forgotten in a school bus this summer, and she was found dead, hours later.
These senseless deaths can – and should – be prevented. Educational campaigns have their merits, but also their limitations. One cannot educate against memory failures, distraction or misunderstandings – the leading causes of why children are left unattended in cars. The good news is that technology is available to address this problem.
The automotive industry has been looking into vehicular heatstroke for years to find an apt solution that helps prevent such tragedies.
After years of research, assessment of various technologies, and extensive real-world testing, radar has proved to be the most reliable, efficient and cost-effective option for child presence detection.
It is sensitive enough to detect the breathing motion of infants – the most vulnerable and most exposed when left unattended in a vehicle. The radar sensor can detect an infant even when covered by a blanket or hidden behind the sunshade of its child seat.
If motion is detected in a vehicle, the technology enables the vehicle to trigger an essential warning (in a pre-determined way) that alerts the driver who left the car to the fact that a child is still inside. Thus, the person can interfere and hopefully, save the child's life. Depending on the vehicle's capabilities further warnings, including alerts to a smartphone, are possible.
The world first in-cabin radar sensing solution has become available in several vehicle models of the Hyundai Motor Group as an option since 2020. There is growing optimism that more automakers will follow.
There is also a growing consciousness that to err is human and that there are very efficient solutions to prevent the worst from happening. With such simple yet strong systems at hand, automakers become ever more responsible and involved in trying to decrease these tragic deaths.
Another example of the support for such safety-sensitive initiatives in the automotive field is Euro NCAP's decision to add the Child Presence Detection feature to its incentive list in 2023. That means more and more automakers are likely to add the technology to their cars, which is encouraging.
The difficulty in the R&D phase is often the lack of available newborns or tiny infants to observe to determine their real-life breathing patterns to create and test a system that detects these movements as accurately as possible.
Since there was no suitable test tool on the market to overcome these constraints, we developed a dedicated "breathing dummy" that imitates a sleeping newborn and provides correct radar signal reflection characteristics. The tool has been validated for usage in Euro NCAP assessments with our
sensor.
It is also important to mention that a similar solution, based on a radar sensor network, exists for aftermarket installation in school buses and vans. It scans for life signs and sends out alert signals. This, too, helps prevent the worst from happening.
Such systems are, no doubt, a great contribution to overall vehicle safety while they also benefit society as a whole.