Walmart and Evenflo have teamed up to announce a new baby car seat that has built-in technology to alert the driver when the child’s harness clip becomes unbuckled and when the child is still in the seat after arriving at their destination. Last summer it seemed like each week that passed we were hearing about a child who had been left in a car and had died due to heat-related issues. According to an article on CNN:
On average, 38 children die every year as a result of being trapped in hot cars. In about half the cases, children are forgotten in the back seat, according to the nonprofit KidsAndCars.org. Often, a parent has forgotten to drop a child off at daycare.
Distraction and fatigue are just two factors that parents deal with on a daily basis. The Evenflo Advanced Embrace DLX Infant Car Seat with SensorSafe has a special receiver that has been designed to plug into the vehicle’s diagnostic port. This receiver syncs with the harness clip that secures the baby in the car seat. It will alert the driver with a tone when the clip becomes disconnected and when the clip is still connected once the car arrives at the destination and the ignition is turned off. This reminds the parent that the baby is still in the back seat. The connection method doesn’t require a smartphone or use of Bluetooth, making it easier to setup and use for non-technical parents.
The Evenflo Advanced Embrace DLX Infant Car Seat with SensorSafe is available in three colors and is priced at $149.88 through Walmart’s online store. For more info visit Walmart.
Source: CNN.
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I keep seeing this around popping up on every social media site I go to. Now as a father the idea of any child dying is horrible and depressing to me. I however have never found myself “accidentally” forgetting I had a child in my back seat. More often then not, I’ll instinctively open the back up to take out a child who is not even in the car. I’m that paranoid/protective. 38 deaths a year is horrible, I will not deny that. But I wonder (and I am generalizing here) would this have really helped, of the 38 how many were simply “distracted/forgetting” or is there more to it, substance abuse, abusive parents, etc. I just really have a hard time imagining simply forgetting your child. Just for reference there are on average 71 deaths a year to bee stings. and 3500! due to texting and driving. I’m more likely to spend this money on a device that will prevent stupid people from texting and driving.
I just have a hard time with this concept, even on my worst days I can’t see myself forgetting my child.
@Andrew I’m not a parent so my thoughts / comments won’t hold much weight. I can see where you’re coming from. I can’t really imagine leaving my kid in the car either. That said, I don’t see any harm in this product.
Don’t worry Julie, I’ll send your the adoption forms, we can get you a child by end of the week. 😀
I do agree, no harm in product, but it does make me question other things that should be addressed if someone finds they do NEED this. An underlying problem that should be addressed first.
Ha! that’s ok, I’ll just stick with taking care of a cat… although there are days where I’d like to send him to kitty camp for the summer!
Good point – I was always checking on my kids while they were in their baby car seats because I was paranoid that they would be getting car sick and barfing up their breakfast. I was always eager to get them out of their seats, so this gadget would not have helped me much either.
You know people im sure does not leave their children in the car on purpose people get distracted you are on the phone or what ever. i see that these are accidents . I bought one of these for my grandbaby even though i probably would never for get her or her mom as far as that goes but i’d rather be safe than sorry. and it came with the stroller so hey why not.
I think this is genius. If only it was also made for children of higher weights. As a mother of a two year old I can’t imagine me ever forgetting my child but I cab see how it would happen. I work 12 hours on night shift as a rn. I get so tired I start to forget where I put things by the time I get home. It seems that most of the people who do this come from hats writing and exhausting jobs. I read in an article that a dentist, police officer, rocket scientist, and doctor forgot their kids in the car. Sometimes you get so busy and the child could fall alseep. I cab see how this would happen. Also sometimes one parent has to take the child to day care that rarely does it on their way to work. I think it’s great that some companies are trying to rectify this tragic issue.