# Children cooking to death in cars

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-cooking-to-death-in-cars/181364>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 12, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-cooking-to-death-in-cars/181364 "2003-06-12T16:47:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-cooking-to-death-in-cars/181364/1 "2003-06-12T16:47:39Z")

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No, I don’t want a blow-by-blow description of the process of dying of heat stroke. Sadly inspired by [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=190258) thread, I pose the question:

Since the invention of the automobile, how many children have died in the US from being left in a hot car? I assume the death rate has gone up since air conditioners were added to cars. How does the US compare to other industrial countries when it comes to children dying in hot cars, and how do other countries penalize such idiots?

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-cooking-to-death-in-cars/181364/2 "2003-06-12T19:44:10Z")

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Oh, c’mon! 62 views and not even a guess?

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**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-cooking-to-death-in-cars/181364/3 "2003-06-12T20:03:51Z")

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Well, there were 175 such deaths for the 1996-2002 period-

[http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/safety/child\_passenger\_safety/releases/hot\_car\_051402.html](http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/safety/child_passenger_safety/releases/hot_car_051402.html)

Just guessing here, maybe somewhere around 1500 car-frying deaths in the U.S. total?

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**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-cooking-to-death-in-cars/181364/4 "2003-06-12T21:25:15Z")

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I would imagine the deaths have gone up since cars were invented, because I doubt older cars were as airtight.

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-cooking-to-death-in-cars/181364/5 "2003-06-12T21:46:09Z")

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Well, older cars didn’t have AC, so I would think people drove around in the summer with the windows rolled down. Any child left in the car then wouldn’t have died of heat stroke.

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**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-cooking-to-death-in-cars/181364/6 "2003-06-12T21:55:25Z")

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Right … and probably people didn’t lock cars as much back then either. I know my older relatives didn’t.

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-cooking-to-death-in-cars/181364/7 "2003-06-13T12:20:11Z")

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So was there a sudden jump in deaths after AC’s were installed? When were AC’s installed in cars?