Every summer, 30-40 children are left in hot cars and die of heatstroke. So far this summer, 10 children have died. 

This may sound like careless parenting by a few. But it's not. It's happened to engineers at Intel and at NASA, to CEOs and soldiers, people all across the social and economic spectrum. Tired and busy parents can't see the baby in the rear-facing seat, and can forget that the baby is there.

It's an incredibly rare event; it happens perhaps once every hundred million car rides. It's so rare that many people think they could never make that mistake. But we can all think of a time when we forgot something important - a deadline, an anniversary, that thing you were supposed to bring. When it happens with a child, the result is incomprehensibly tragic. And it can be fast - as little as 20 minutes on a sunny day can be fatal. 

Technology exists that can solve this problem. 

An occupancy sensor must meet the following requirements: 

• simple and robust
• included in car seat at purchase
• does not require purchase of additional items to function (e.g. smartphone)
• easily incorporated into car seat manufacturing process
• cheap to manufacture 
• capable of being monitored by onboard vehicle systems
• capable of being monitored by smartphone

While a number of occupancy sensors have been developed, many don't have these characteristics. One that comes pretty close Intel's prototype Smart Clip. UPDATE 7/24/15: Evenflo has released a car seat with this kind of sensor system.

Sign this petition to tell car seat manufacturers you want an occupancy sensor to be included in the next car seat you buy. 

Resources:

Data on heatstroke deaths​

Kids and Cars​

NHTSA information page​

It's that serious​

Gene Weingarten 2009 story, and subsequent reporting