During summer, cases of hot car deaths reach all-time highs. Many children, aged 3 and below, are unknowingly left by irresponsible parents inside cars in open areas, which causes the kids to suffocate in high temperatures.
Now Elsa Foley does not want this to happen ever again to more kids in the future. Being a mother of two boys and an engineer at Nissan, she was drawn to protect other children by providing a solution.
“So I thought — I’m an engineer, I work at a car company, surely there is something that I can do,” she said.
Called the Rear Door Alert, it is essentially what its name suggests. The tool is to help people remember to check the back seat before they leave the car. Created along with Marlene Mendoza who is also an engineer, the Rear Door Alert could helpful in saving whatever it is in the backseat, like a laptop, groceries, or pets.
Photos by Nissan
“When we travel, I think we get even more distracted sometimes — we’re thinking about where we’re going to go next,” Foley pointed out.
Once enabled, this new safety feature by Nissan works when the driver gets out of the car and walks away, only to alert him or her through a honking sound and remind that something or someone might be left in the backseat. The sensor is on the door to tell if a rear door was opened when the driver first entered and started the vehicle.
Video by Nissan USA
This system prompts the driver to reopen the rear door each time and notice anyone or anything that might be left inside.
It will become a standard on the 2018 Nissan Pathfinder. This is the first of its kind to offer an external, audible alert.
Source: Continental Nissan
