Smart Car Seat for Children Aims to Prevent Deaths in Hot Cars
By Craig Knapp on May 17, 2015

On Friday we found out that 36-year-old Shanesha Taylor, the single Phoenix mother who left her 2-year-old and 8-month-old son in a hot car while she interviewed for a job, was sentenced to 18 years of supervised probation. You may remember her teary-eyed mug shot that was published online, raising $114,000 in donations from those who sympathized.

Although Shanesha Taylor may be one of the most well known parents to leave a child in a hot car, she is not the only one. An average of 38 children die in hot cars every year from parents who forgot their child was in the car or left their child in the car to run an errand. But a new smart car seat has been created in an effort to try and reduce the amount of deaths taking place every year. It’s the first car seat to communicate with your smartphone.

The car seat syncs with an Android or iOS smartphone to recognize potentially unsafe conditions and alert parents. These alerts will trigger if a child is left unattended, if a child gets out of their seat while driving, reminders to check the seat buckle, monitors ambient temperature, assists in getting the correct angle position when installing the seat and even allows for set up of emergency contacts.

So how does the ambient temperature function work? The smart car seat constantly monitors the ambient temperature in the back seat. If a child is unintentionally left in the car, an alert is sent to the parent’s cell phone. If the situation continues, additional alerts are sent via email and/or text to certain contacts you selected during setup and registration. These alerts let others know that a child may have unintentionally been left in their car seat.

The smart car seat is originally $349.99 but is available on Amazon right now for $149.99. For parents that think leaving their child in the car is not a concern, the car seat offers many other helpful safety features with your child in mind. Regardless of how great a parent you are, you can never have too much help to ensure your child is safe. You can learn more about this car seat by clicking here.