If you’ve shopped for a car in recent years, you’ve probably realized that there are a lot more safety features these days than there used to be. From radar sensors that detect vehicles in your blind spot to automatic braking designed to prevent collisions, most of these features are designed to keep you safe while the car is in motion since that’s when most dangers are present. But you don’t necessarily have to be actively driving a car for it to be dangerous.
That’s because the greenhouse effect can cause a car’s interior to heat up quickly, even on a cool day. Experts have found that if it’s just 61º F outside, a vehicle’s cabin can reach a temperature of 105º F in an hour. That’s fine if the car is empty, but if a child or pet has been left behind in the back seat, it can cause heatstroke, which can be fatal. In response to this problem, which kills tens of children and hundreds of pets every year, automakers have developed features that remind you to check the back seat at the end of a drive. Because this technology has the potential to be life-saving, it’s worth taking a closer look at. Today, we’ll dive into how it works, why it’s so important, and what to keep an eye out for while shopping for your next vehicle.
Do I Really Need a Rear Seat Reminder?
If you just thought to yourself, “Well, I would never forget my child in the back seat,” you’re not alone. No one wants to think that they’re capable of making such a potentially dangerous mistake. But the fact is, this issue isn’t caused by a handful of overall neglectful parents and pet owners who don’t care enough to keep track of their loved ones. Cognitive neuroscience research has revealed that this can happen to anyone. A change in routine or the stresses you face in everyday life can cause a lapse in memory that’s not within your control and doesn’t reflect on your overall character.
Instead of insisting that you’re the exception to the rule, it’s better to consider the possibility that you’re part of the “everyone” this can happen to and take precautions accordingly. It never hurts to have a safety net, after all. Besides, even if you don’t have kids or pets, the reminder can still come in handy for inanimate objects that we all know we can forget in the backseat, like suitcases and lunch bags.
How Does a Rear Seat Reminder Work?
The most common rear seat reminder technology on the market today was introduced by General Motors in the 2017 GMC Acadia. Instead of using motion sensors or scales built into the seats, which can be expensive and hard to tune to the right level of sensitivity, this system keeps track of the opening and closing of the rear doors. If you open the rear doors within a set time period before you start the car (for example, 10 minutes) or if you open the rear doors once the engine is running, odds are good that someone or something is in the back seat. This triggers the rear seat reminder to activate, so when you arrive at your destination and turn the car off, you’ll get an audio warning and a message on one of the vehicle’s screens reminding you to check the back seat.
How Effective Are Rear Seat Reminders?
The door-based system is surprisingly effective for how simple it is. In fact, that simplicity itself is part of what makes it so helpful. Since most drivers don’t think they need rear seat reminders, they’re not likely to actually use a system that needs to be turned on or manually activated. As long as the system is on by default, the door-based system works automatically and isn’t so obtrusive that it’s likely to become annoying (something that can happen all too easily for over-sensitive driver assistance tools that beep so much they become a nuisance).
What Are the Limitations of Rear Seat Reminders?
For parents, the basic rear seat reminder system is fairly fool-proof. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever put your kids in the back without opening a rear door, and the time periods on these systems are usually generous enough to cover most use cases. For pet owners, however, letting your dog into the back of your SUV through the liftgate rather than the door can circumvent the system. And while most systems are turned on by default, you might occasionally run into one that needs to be turned on by the driver. There’s also usually an option to turn the feature off, which can be a risk due to the unique psychology of this issue.
Do All Cars Have Rear Seat Reminders?
Since the common version of this feature first appeared as recently as the 2017 model year, you might think that it’s still on its way to becoming mainstream. However, this feature has actually been embraced by the auto industry remarkably quickly. In 2019, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers (two of the largest trade associations that represent the auto industry) committed to ensuring that all vehicles had rear seat reminder alert systems by the 2025 model year. Automakers haven’t been waiting for that deadline to take action, either. Almost all of the major brands that do business in the US have a standard rear seat alert on most or all of their models for the 2024 model year.
If you’re shopping for a used model, you should still have plenty of options available. Just make sure you keep an eye out for this feature; it shouldn’t be hard to find. Even as far back as the 2020 model year, there are plenty of options out there for you to choose from, including most of General Motors’ lineup (Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac) and certain models from Hyundai, Subaru, and Nissan.
What Are Advanced Rear Seat Reminders?
The system that keeps track of the rear doors opening is the most common type of rear seat reminder, but it isn’t the only tech out there. Advanced systems are available that use ultrasonic sensors to detect motion in the backseat after your car has been locked. Because these systems can be activated even after you’ve walked away from the car, they tend to use external warnings, like flashing headlights and horn honking. Some of them can even send you a smartphone alert or an email letting you know that motion has been detected in the back.
Because these systems are more expensive and high-tech, they’re often optional features, while the door-based systems are standard. Currently, they’re less common, but they can be found on some vehicles made by Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, and other automakers. Because the industry agreement to add rear seat reminders to all 2025 models doesn’t specify a particular type of technology, you’ll want to do your research to see what you’re getting if you prefer one system over the other.
Rear Seat Reminders Are Here to Stay
In the world of tech, it’s easy to find products that seem exciting at first but turn out to be passing fads in hindsight. But rear seat reminders are almost certainly here to stay. They’ve gone from rare to standard in almost all new models remarkably quickly compared to other high-tech features, which took years to go from cutting-edge to ubiquitous. That’s not just because it can prevent children from dying but also because the tech involved is easy and affordable to add to a new vehicle. Hopefully, the fast rise of this feature will bring down the number of children dying by heat stroke each year just as quickly and change the world for the better. It certainly has the potential to do a lot of good.
