You’d just have a plug adapter that plugs into the child seat. It would require a simple add-on set of contact plates for the 2 piece child seat. Again, $5 in parts. It’s always best to go the simple route. I would add 2 relays, 2 buzzers for redundancy. A heartbeat thingy is just adding money to a problem that doesn’t exist. Kind of like snuffing out a fire using piles of money when a bucket of water would work.
Good point; I think I got too used to the type that double as baby-carriers and were frequently removed from the car on arrival at whatever destination. I can see that’s not realistic in situations where the kid’s old enough to walk or a stroller is being used, etc.
Even with this type, many of them have a “base station” that stays locked into the car. The seat/carrier portion with the handle swings out.
All buzzers in cars of mine are disabled. NO seatbelt warnings, no light on warnings, no indication that the car door is open. I will be wearing my seatbelt, and my car lights turn off when the key comes out of the ignition, if my door is open, and the stereo is on, I’ve done that on purpose… I simply remove the sounding module.
IMO, there is no excuse, regardless of use of tricks, or the lack of, to forget that your child is in the car. A child is not a wallet, or a work badge (which I did forget to clip on before work today).
Robots. The auto makers much include fulling functioning, human-intelligent robots STANDARD with every new vehicle as a safety device. That way if you leave your dog or child in the car with the windows rolled up the robot is always there to let the dog/child out!
And, it can also drive the car for you if you are too stupid to drive (which you probably are if you need a robot to keep your kids from dying in a scorching, airless, car).
And it can raise your children for you if you’re too stupid for that (which you probably are if… etc, etc…)
You know, I left my child in the car once. I got about 10 feet, had a “Duh!” moment, and went back for him.
It’s amazing how fuzzy you can be when you’re dealing with the sleep deprivation and stress of a new baby. I once walked around my wife’s car, got in my car and promptly backed into the first car - all in the haze of baby-induced sleep deprivation.
It’s sad when it happens but it can, an obviously does, happen. Some of the anger about it is, perhaps, justified but it can happen for completely non-malicious reasons.
Do you think the vast-majority of these people actually wanted their child to die horribly?
An episode of CSI once dealt with this issue - I had to turn it off - it affected me so strongly. It’s the only episode I know of that I haven’t seen.
Just don’t act like it’s intentional.
Well, a lot of these accidents seem to happen when the parent is out of his or her normal routine. I.e., Parent A usually drops the kids off at daycare, but had an uanusually early meeting at work, so Parent B was taking the child instead. Child is quietly asleep in back, Parent B starts thinking abuot his or her upcoming day, goes on autopilot, and drives straight to work by force of habit. Gets out of the car while fussing with coffee/tie/shoes as per usual, and totally forgets child in back.
In this sort of scenario, the briefcase or purse is part of the routine, while the child isn’t. Linking the one to the other can avoid forgetfulness.
My car already has what you’re looking for, Nawth Chucka. The 1998 Rover 420 has an ultrasonic interior sensor on the alarm system. I can’t even leave the windows cracked without the alarm going off. I’d imagine as soon as the kid started moving in his car seat the alarm would sound. I guess if the kid slept like a log it may take some time for him to stir enough to set it off, but, well, nothing affordable will be 100%.