'Smart' child seat warns forgetful parents they've left their baby in the car
Baby on board — and don’t you bleeping forget it
DAVID CAMERON once famously forgot his daughter Nancy in a pub, and dozens of children are inadvertently left on the back seats of cars by parents in a hurry, according to American accident data.
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Now a child seat has been launched with a “smart chest clip” sensor on the harness that communicates with a wireless receiver plugged into the car’s diagnostic port. If it senses the child is still buckled in when the ignition is switched off, an alarm is triggered. The system will also notify the driver if the clip becomes unbuckled while the car is on the move.
Harassed parents forgetting children is more common than people might think. Evenflo, the seat’s American maker, says one child dies every nine days in America as a result of being trapped in a hot car. Separate research has suggested that about half of these cases are down to forgetfulness.
The seat will be available in Walmart stores later this month. Asda, which is owned by the American supermarket giant and stocks many of its products, could not confirm whether it would be coming to Britain.
Listen to one father’s tragic story in this video (warning: very distressing content)
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