Hyundai will make a rear-seat occupant alert standard on its lineup by 2022.

Kia, General Motors, Nissan, and Subaru already offer the systems on many of their vehicles.

Accidentally leaving a child inside a car can be fatal, and the alert systems—annoying as they can be for those with no kids in the back seat—are set up to prevent that tragedy.

Leaving a child in the back seat on a hot summer day is high on the list of dramatic local news reports and parental worries. Although not common, it is a potentially fatal problem that automakers are trying to solve, and if that means yet another electronic nanny on your vehicle, it just might be worth it.



Hyundai is the latest automaker to announce that it will make its version of a back-seat reminder system standard on most of its new vehicles by 2022. The automaker's soon-to-be-standard technology, called Rear Occupant Alert, is operated by door logic, which tracks the opening and closing of the rear doors to determine if someone may be left inside the car. A more advanced version called the Ultrasonic Rear Occupant Alert will become more available on Hyundai models in the future. Currently, Ultrasonic Rear Occupant Alert is connected with Blue Link on the Santa Fe and Palisade.

Here's how the sensor-based Hyundai system works. First, when the driver gets out of the car, the dashboard displays a message reminding them to check the rear seats. If the car's ultrasonic sensor detects movement in the rear seat when the vehicle is parked and locked, the car's horn will honk and its lights will flash. If the driver's phone is connected through Hyundai's Blue Link telematics system, a text message will be sent to the phone that movement was detected in the car.

The advocacy group KidsAndCars.org says that 38 children die in hot cars, on average, in the United States each year. Through August 1, the group has tracked 25 child vehicular heat-stroke deaths in the U.S. in 2019. The group has tracked these fatalities since 1990. One of the main reasons these deaths happen is that parents don't realize how quickly a car's interior heats up or that a child's body can overheat three to five times faster than that of an adult.

The Kids and Cars group recommends calling 911 if you see a child locked in a car, but when asked if the ROA system could automatically open a window or contact local law enforcement, a Hyundai spokesperson said, "This is not available now."

Rear-seat alert systems from other automakers work in similar ways even if they have different names, and most of them use the opening and closing of the rear doors to trigger the system. GM, for example, announced its Rear Seat Reminder system in 2016. In 2018, Nissan said it would make its Rear Door Alert system standard on all four-door models. Subaru's Rear Seat Reminder is standard on the 2020 Ascent SUV. Kia also offers its version of Hyundai's Rear Occupant Alert. There are also some aftermarket child car-seat alarms that act as reminders that there's someone in the back seat.

For the past three years, lawmakers from both parties in the U.S. House and Senate have been working on the HOT CARS (Helping Overcome Trauma for Children Alone in Rear Seats) Act, that would require all new vehicles be equipped with a sensor and alert system to remind drivers to check the back seats, but it has not yet passed.

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