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Child advocates say all cars should include warning system to prevent hot car deaths

By
Updated  September 4, 2019 9:14pm MST
Gilbert
FOX 10 Phoenix
Child advocates say all cars should include warning system to prevent hot car deaths

Child advocates say all cars should include warning system to prevent hot car deaths

FOX 10's Justin Lum reports.

A Gilbert family is left heartbroken after their three-year-old girl was left in a hot car and later died.

Police are still investigating the case, and it's unknown at this point if charges will be filed. On Tuesday afternoon, officers responded to a home near on the 2900 block of E. Vaughn, where they found the little girl One neighbor, who is a nurse, tried to do CPR on the child, but she was pronounced dead later at the hospital

The child's death marks the 39th case of a child dying in a hot car nationwide in 2019.

"My heart just was absolutely devastated for the family, and then I was struck with the emotion another family in my home state is going through this," said Dawn Peabody, who still remembers the day she went through the same tragedy in 2008.

Peabody said her family rode in three different cars, with her daughter, Maya, getting in one with her husband that she normally wouldn't be in.

"He hopped out of the car and went to go play with our children," said Peabody. "Was about an hour later when someone asked 'where's Maya?'"

Maya died before turning three. Since then, Peabody has made it her life's purpose to educate parents and flight for child safety. In two weeks, she will head to Washington, D.C. to speak to Congress and present the Hot Cars Act of 2019, a bill that would mandate all new cars to have sensor technology installed.

"If i leave my gas cap off, if my windshield wiper fluid is low, if I put something that's the wrong weight in the front seat, my airbag will turn off," said peabody. "If I leave precious cargo in the back seat, it does nothing but act as an oven."

Kidsandcars.org officials said in 2018 alone, there were 53 child deaths in hot cars, an all-time high since 1990. Meanwhile, Gilbert Police officials have tips to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.

• Always check the back seat and make sure all children are out of the car before locking it and walking away
• Avoid distractions while driving, especially cell phone usage
• Be extra alert when there is a change in your routine, like when someone else is driving your child or you take a different route to work or to child care
• Have your child care provider call if your child is more than 10 minutes late
• Put your cell phone, bag, purse or some other item in the back seat, so you check your back seat when you arrive at your destination