The heat source is a pair of headlights. A car door alarm signals emergencies. An auto air filter and fan provide climate control.

But this contraption has nothing to do with transportation. It is a sturdy, low-cost incubator, designed to keep vulnerable newborns warm during the first fragile days of life.

Unlike the notoriously high-maintenance incubators found in neonatal intensive care units in the United States, it is easily repaired, because all of its operational parts come from cars.

And while incubators can cost $40,000 or more, this one can be built for less than $1,000.

The creators of the car parts incubator  a project being promoted by the Global Health Initiative at the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, or Cimit, a nonprofit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and engineering schools  say it could prevent millions of newborn deaths in the developing world.