Children

Prevent Hot Car Deaths

Check the Back Seat

Over the past 25 years, more than 940 children have died of heatstroke, because they were left or became trapped in a hot car. It’s important for everyone to understand that children are more vulnerable to heatstroke and that all hot car deaths are preventable.

Know the Facts:

A child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's.

When a child is left in a vehicle, that child's temperature can rise quickly — and the situation can quickly become dangerous.

Heatstroke begins when the core body temperature reaches about 104 degrees.

A child can die when their body temperature reaches 107 degrees.

In 2022, 33 children died of heatstroke in vehicles.

In 2018 and 2019, we saw a record number of hot car deaths - 53 children died each year — the most in at least 25 years, according to NoHeatstroke.org.

Be Careful: Research Shows That Anyone Could Forget a Kid in a Hot Car

"Forgetting children is a common memory failure that can lead to tragic consequences"

If parents believe they would never forget their child in a hot car, they should think again. It can happen to anyone.

Since 1998, about 950 children have died in hot cars and more than half of them were left behind unknowingly by their caregiver, according to NoHeatStroke.org.

A leading expert in cognitive neuroscience who has studied the role of memory in such tragedies has found that the stresses parents face in everyday life can make these memory lapses more likely.

Forgetting a child is not a negligence problem but a memory problem, says David Diamond, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

“The most common response is that only bad or negligent parents forget kids in cars,” Diamond says. “It’s a matter of circumstances. It can happen to everyone.”

This updated, June 2023 article from Consumer Reports is an eye opener and a reminder that this awful experience can happen to anyone!

You Can Help Prevent Hot Car Deaths

About 40 children a year die from heatstroke, either because they were left or became trapped in a car. That's about one child every 10 days killed in a hot car.

940+ CHILD HOT CAR DEATHS SINCE 1998!

Child Safety -

Hot car deaths is the leading causes of non-crash-related fatalities among children. Learn more about keeping children safe in and around a car.