Here’s what to know about heat, cars, and how you can help save a child’s life
Temperatures could again tip into the triple digits in the coming week. But it doesn’t have to get that hot for one critical threat to exist.
The three nationwide child heatstroke deaths in vehicles listed this year on noheatstroke.org — one each in Texas, Tennessee and Georgia — happened when local temperatures in those areas reached no more than 90 degrees.
Children left in vehicles have suffered fatal heatstrokes when temperatures were in the 60s and 70s.
“It doesn’t have to be blazing hot for a child to die in a car from the heat,” said noheatstroke.org founder Jan Null.
Null is a meteorologist at San Jose State University. In 2001 he got a call from a reporter after a child left in a car died. The reporter asked Null how hot it could’ve gotten in the car.
”There really weren’t any good comprehensive studies,” said the meteorologist of 48 years.
Null researched, working with Stanford University ER doctors. Studies were published. Reams of data are available now to show the dangers of children left in vehicles.
“The biggest takeaway is it can happen to anyone,” Null said. “It is not any one demographic.”
In April, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control referenced Null’s work in a push to raise public awareness of hot car dangers. It referenced the 22 deaths in hot cars since 1998 in South Carolina, including three just last year. The average date of the first hot car death of the year nationally is March 24.
“A car can heat up 19 degrees in 10 minutes, and cracking a window doesn’t help,” Safe Kids South Carolina director Kevin Poore said in an April release from DHEC. “Heatstroke can happen anytime, anywhere. We don’t want to see this happen to any family, or any child.”
Fort Mill child car seat manufacturer Britax plans to do its part.
As important as it is for parents to know their children are as safe as possible inside a vehicle, it’s just as important to know when to get out of it.
“It’s critical that parents and caregivers take important steps to help protect their children in and around vehicles this summer and throughout the whole year,” said Sarah Tilton, director of consumer advocacy for Britax.
Britax, its American headquarters based in Fort Mill since 2013, routinely holds free car seat check events where company experts install seats and teach parents, grandparents or other attendees how to do it properly. According to Britax, nearly half of all car seats are put in wrong.
Britax has its next free event Monday.
Also at the event Monday, a giant thermometer will display temperatures both inside and outside a vehicle.
“We will also be educating on why it’s so important to never leave a child alone in a parked car,” Tilton said, citing national safety data on a child’s body temperature rising three to five times faster than an adult’s temperature. “With the heat waves our country has been experiencing lately, this message is very timely.”
South Carolina hot car deaths
According to Null’s data:
▪ The 22 child heatstroke deaths in vehicles since 1998 in South Carolina are the 14th most among all states.
▪ Only 11 states have more child heatstroke deaths per capita than South Carolina in that time.
▪ Deaths have occurred in Rock Hill and Lancaster, along with multiple deaths each in and around large population centers like Charleston and Columbia.
▪ Children who died from heat in vehicles range from three months to 13 years old. There are 20 boys and two girls listed.
▪ Six children died in South Carolina hot cars in 2018, the most of any year on record. Multiple deaths also occurred in 2007 (3), 2014 (3), 2019 (2) and 2021 (3).
▪ Half of hot vehicle deaths in South Carolina happened when children were forgotten. Another 32% when children were knowingly left in vehicles, and 18% when children got into vehicles themselves.
Facts to know about hot car deaths
▪ A child’s body can warm at a rate three to five times faster than an adult.
▪ Cell and internal organ damage that quickly can lead to death comes with an internal body temperature of 107 degrees.
▪ On a 70 degree day, the inside temperature of an enclosed vehicle can reach 99 degrees within 20 minutes. In an hour, it can reach 113 degrees. On a 90 degree day the temperature can reach 109 degrees within 10 minutes and 133 degrees within an hour. On a 100 degree day, the inside temperature can reach 143 degrees in an hour.
The noheatstroke.org data goes back to 1998, and shows:
▪ There have been 910 child deaths in hot vehicles nationwide, including 23 deaths last year.
▪ The highest death totals came just before the COVID-19 pandemic, with 53 instances each in 2018 and 2019.
▪ Almost 53% of deaths occur when a child was forgotten by a caregiver. Almost 26% occur when a child gets into a vehicle on his or her own. About 20% of deaths are when caregivers knowingly leave children in vehicles.
▪ Deaths range from children age five days to 14 years. More than half of the children were younger than 2 years. The average age of death is 27 months.
▪ July, August and June are the most common months for hot car deaths, with almost twice as many as any other month. The most deaths occur in the southern part of the United States, where temperatures are hottest.
▪ Almost half of deaths, at 48%, happen when the outside temperature is 90 to 99 degrees. Another 32% happen with 80-89 degree temperatures. The average outside temperature is 89.3 degrees.
▪ Thursday and Friday are the most common days of the week for hot vehicle deaths.
▪ The responsible party in hot vehicle deaths is the mother, father or both in about 74% of the time.
▪ More than half of cases, at 58%, occur at home. Another 23% of cases happen at a work place.
▪ There are 27 states with 10 or more deaths since 1998, including states as far north as Michigan, New York and New Jersey.
▪ Only Alaska, New Hampshire and Vermont haven’t recorded at least one child heatstroke death in a vehicle.
What should parents do?
Null said caregivers can do plenty to avoid the tragedy of heatstroke deaths, starting with the basics.
“Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle, not even for a minute,” Null said. “That minute you walk into the store becomes 10 minutes.”
For the more than half of cases where leaving a child in the vehicle is accidental, Null suggests something like a stuffed animal in the car seat that a parent puts in the front when a child is present as a reminder. Or, something the parent will need like a briefcase, purse or wallet left in the back seat so the driver will have to go back there at the end of a trip.
“Get into a pattern,” Null said.
For cases where children get into vehicles on their own, often age 2 to 5, Null suggests teaching children not to play in vehicles but also to beep the horn if they ever are trapped.
”Keep cars locked,” Null said. “Keep keys and key fabs away from children. Cars are not a play area.”
Then there are cases where parents leave children in cars intentionally, often believing a short stop in somewhere won’t hurt.
“A lot of states that’s criminal, but even if it’s not the consequences are just not worth whatever you think it’s worth to leave a child in the car,” Null said.
There are developing technologies in new cars as reminder systems, but Null said relatively few cars on the road are new ones so it will take some time before any new systems will become common. Plus, parents of small children may be less likely to purchase new cars compared to older ones.
”It needs to be continued education,” Null said.
More on child car safety
Britax will provide information on heat and car seat installation safety at its free event from 2 to 5 p.m. Monday. The event will be at Britax headquarters at 4140 Pleasant Road, Fort Mill. Families with all car seat brands are welcome. Safety technicians will show caregivers correct installation and answer questions.
Almost monthly car seat check events will happen either at Britax or the Flint Hill Fire Department station on U.S. 21 Bypass. Along with hot car dangers, summer also brings more family travel. Common mistakes of the estimated 46% of improperly installed car seats include using it for children of the wrong size, facing it the wrong direction for the age and size of the child, routing the seat belt through improperly, positioning straps or clips wrong and more.
If possible, participants should bring children who will use the seat and a second adult to watch the child while installation and instruction take place. No appointment is necessary for the event.
This story was originally published June 19, 2022 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Here’s what to know about heat, cars, and how you can help save a child’s life."
