CNN reported that vehicular heatstroke - hyperthermia - caused an average of 36 fatalities each year. The fact that human complacence and our tendency toward forgetfulness results in the needless deaths of children and pets tragic enough, but the seeming uptick in frequency of cases is downright troubling, and it’s happening all over the world.
While that number does include instances of children actually locking themselves in the passenger cell or the trunk, a good portion of that can be linked to children being left in a hot car. But since it’s 2017, Nissan thought it about time to introduce a feature that would help to prevent this.
It’s called Rear Door Alert, and its painfully simple enough for us to be a little miffed that it took automakers this long to come around, especially given their propensity for including more and more safety kit. The system uses sensors that detect if the rear doors were opened before a certain given journey, such as if opened by a small child or by their parents (guardian, etc) to fasten them in.
Upon parking the car and turning off, the car will sound an internal alert to remind the driver to do a quick check on the back seats. This can be paired with the car’s horn, which in addition to the interior chimes, will beep a few seconds after the front doors are shut, making sure that the driver won’t get more than a few steps away from the car before being reminded.
"The Rear Door Alert uses a similar honking cue that has been proven successful with Nissan's Easy Fill Tire Alert," said Elsa Foley, an industrial engineer at Nissan. "By drawing your attention back to the vehicle, once you've walked away, you are more likely to recheck the back seat than with a visual alert alone.”
"The idea is if you open a rear door, whether to put a child or a package in the rear seat, the vehicle will help alert you when you get to your destination that you may want to check the rear seat," said Marlene Mendoza, a mechanical engineer at Nissan. "We've built in enough time that you don't have to rush, but if you don't open the rear door again when you get out of the vehicle, we want you to think for a moment about what you may have put in the back seat."
Rear Door Alert will be debuting on the 2018 Nissan Pathfinder SUV, but its initial rollout seems to be limited to the US-spec version for now. Given how relevant this feature clearly, regardless of market or region, we won’t be surprised if it quickly spreads to Nissans sold in other corners of the world. Also, we hope other automakers shamelessly copy Nissan’s idea here, or at least introduce a feature to achieve similar ends - it’ll save lives.
For more on Nissan vehicles, check out our Showroom.
