The Forgotten Child

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says more than 50 children died when left behind in hot cars in both 2019 and 2018. Of those incidents, 54% occurred because someone forgot a child. Many of these are just pure accidents and they are heartbreaking. I remember in a recent article a man was accused [of murder] for leaving his two young children in a hot car where they died. He had come home from his work, put the two young children in the house, went to sleep and then latter found them dead in the car. The neighbors security camera recorded the children exiting the house, getting into the car by themselves.

Well anyways, Tesla, has a solution for that.

Tesla Inc. asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for approval to market a short-range interactive motion-sensing device that could help prevent children from being left behind in hot cars and boost theft-prevention systems.

The California automaker wants permission to use unlicensed millimeter-wave sensors that would operate at higher power levels than allowed under existing rules.

Tesla’s device would utilize four transmit and three receive antennas driven by a radar front-end unit. Tesla says millimeter wave radar technology has advantages over other sensing systems like camera-based or in-seat occupant detection systems.

The radar-based system “provides depth perception and can ‘see’ through soft materials, such as a blanket covering a child in a child restraint.”

Tesla added it “can differentiate between a child and an object left on the seat, reducing the likelihood of false alarms” and can detect “micromovements like breathing patterns and heart rates, neither of which can be captured by cameras or in-seat sensors alone.”

Radar imaging, Tesla adds, can assess body size to optimize airbag deployment in a crash depending on whether an adult or child is seated, which it says would be more effective than existing weight-based, in-seat sensor systems.

Source: Tesla seeks approval for sensor that could detect kids left in hot cars

This is becoming a serious problem,more and more children are dying in hot cars.Recently a mother was sent to prison for leaving her children in a hot car while she bought,used and passed out from drugs.When she came too from her drug induced stuper and went outside,she found her children dead.

It all depends on the solution. Will the car automatically open the windows or will it generate a blaring alarm that something is wrong inside the car?

Hard to judge height while one is seated, but weight is an easy thing to judge. Alot of new cars have a weight sensor for the seatbelt alarm that judge simply a matter of something heavy is in the seat or seat is empty. Shouldn't be hard to adjust the sensor to determine is the amount of weight within or above a certain range to determine if it is a child or adult. Very few children weigh above 140 pounds.

^^^
Never knew that

It's not uncommon here at all, my wife is short, 152cm (5 feet), 45kg (100 pounds) - BMI 20, well into the healthy range.

But I took a look online and apparently this is not a local issue for us: we seem to prefer different methods of killing our children over here

I was being sarcastic

It's the same here too but I've never seen a child locked in a car no matter the weather.