Children in the United States continue to die from being in a hot car

WASHINGTON D.C. – In 2024, children in this country are still dying from being in a hot car.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 40 children a year die from heatstroke, either because they were left or became trapped in a car. That’s about one child every 10 days killed in a hot car. Over 950 have died since 1988.

The issue doesn’t seem to be improving much either. There were 6 child hot car deaths in 1992. There were 53 in 2019. While these numbers aren’t earth shattering, most, if not all, are totally preventable.

The majority of hot car deaths — 53% — happen because someone forgets a child in a car. You may be asking yourself: How does this happen? Families who lost a loved one thought the same thing at one point, but then the tragedy happened to them. Hot car deaths don’t just occur in the summer heat. On average, the first vehicular heatstroke of the year happens in March, according to Jan Null, who has been tracking such deaths since 1998. Among the trends he discovered over the years:

• About 46% of the time when a child was forgotten, the caregiver meant to drop the child off at a daycare or preschool.
• Thursdays and Fridays — the end of the workweek — have had the highest deaths.
• More than half of the deaths (54%) are children under 2 years old.

Hot car deaths don’t just happen when a child is forgotten. The second leading cause — 25% — of such deaths are children getting into unattended vehicles. Get in the habit of always locking your car doors and trunk, year-round. The temperature inside a car can reach over 115 degrees when the outside temperature is just 70 degrees.

The third leading cause of these deaths — knowingly leaving a child — is the most preventable. Never leave a child alone in a parked car. Rolling windows down or parking in the shade does little to change the interior temperature of the vehicle. A child’s body temperature can rise three to five times faster than an adult’s.

Parents and caregivers, get in the habit of always checking the back seat of your car before locking the doors.

If you see a child alone in a vehicle, make sure the child is okay and responsive. If not, call 911 immediately. 

• If the child appears to be okay, attempt to locate the parents; if at a public place, have the facility page the car owner over an intercom system. 
• If the child is not responsive and appears to be in distress, attempt to get into the car to assist the child—even if that means breaking a window. Many states have “Good Samaritan” laws that protect people from lawsuits for getting involved to help a person in an emergency.