Hyundai Motor America has announced plans to expand use of its safety system that reminds drivers when someone is in the back seat — a system designed to prevent harm to children accidentally left in hot cars.
“Making these systems standard equipment will help prevent child deaths from heatstroke in vehicles,” the company says in a press release, adding that it plans to make the system standard on most new vehicles by 2022. It’s already standard in the Santa Fe and Palisade.
The announcement came July 31, which is National Heatstroke Day.
More than half of the Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama in Montgomery, including the popular Santa Fe.
“Heatstroke in vehicles is preventable and we are doing our part to prevent this,” said Mike O’Brien, a vie president of Hyundai Motor America. “We have great systems that use both door logic memory and motion sensors to help prevent children and pets from being forgotten in the care, but it also helps in case children accidentally lock themselves in.”
Hyundai has developed two systems to prevent danger to children and pets left behind. One sends a message via the dashboard instrument cluster; the other — if it detects movement after the driver leaves the car and locks the doors — honks the horn and sends an alert to the driver’s smartphone.
