As the temperatures start to heat up outside, so does the inside of vehicles. And as the warmer months creep up, emergency officials are reminding people about the dangers of leaving children and pets in hot cars.
“What people don’t realize is that a parked car heats up very quickly, in as little as 10 minutes it can be dangerously hot. In fact, 80 percent of the increase that happens in temperature happens in that first 10 minutes,” said Dr. Kevin Borrup, executive director of The Injury Prevention Center at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
Stream Connecticut News for free, 24/7, wherever you are.
WATCH HEREWhile many people may begin to think how hot cars get in the summer months, even on a day where temperatures get into the 70s, the inside of a car could reach upward of 118 degrees.
“The body temperature of children can increase three times faster than an adult’s and heat stroke begins when a body passes 104 degrees,” Borrup said.
Get top local Connecticut stories delivered to you every morning with the News Headlines newsletter.
SIGN UP Because of that, first responders, state officials, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal came together at the Wethersfield Volunteer Fire Department on Monday to raise awareness about the issue.
It’s a problem that has ended in the death of 1,125 children who died in hot cars since 1990, according to Kids and Car Safety. In Connecticut alone, seven children died in hot cars from 1997 to 2024.
“The beginning of the hot weather is a stark reminder to look before you lock. Look before you lock if you have children, whether you are a parent or a grandparent or a caregiver, look before you lock because cars can become death traps,” Sen. Blumenthal said.
Local
Sen. Blumenthal is pushing for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to finalize what he calls a long overdue rule to require all new vehicles to have an alert system which notifies people of a child being left alone in the back seat. Blumenthal said it is a law, but the NHTSA never wrote regulations for it.
“The Hot Cars Act was passed. As often happens, it said the agency will implement this law by issuing regulations and rules that specify all the specifics of how the alerts should work because the law wasn’t going to go into all of that detail,” Blumenthal said. “The rule is necessary, the regulation from NHTSA is necessary for the law to be enforceable. It’s on the books, but the rule is necessary for manufacturers to be held liable.”
As lawmakers wait for the rule to be enforced by the NHTSA, emergency officials recommend parents or caregivers place something of importance in the backseat if they don't have a sensor or alert system, like a left shoe or a purse. That way, they said you have to check the back seat no matter what in order to get out of the car.
