Cutting-edge technology in a new Mercedes car will help reduce the potentially deadly risk of children being left inside.
Its Child Presence Detection (CPD) system uses sensors to detect anybody breathing in the cabin and is designed to stop drivers forgetting their child, which can be particularly dangerous in hot weather.
The technology in the forthcoming CLA coupe detects a child in the vehicle through their distinctive breathing pattern, while cameras check whether there is an adult with them. Its sensors are so sensitive that they can even pick up a sleeping newborn baby.
The system offers a reminder when the car is switched off. If the driver leaves and locks the vehicle with a child still inside, alerts are sent to the owner’s smartphone.
If the cabin temperature exceeds a critical point, the air conditioning kicks in, and the car’s horn and lights activate with the aim of alerting passers-by. If the child remains in the car, the Mercedes SOS call centre is notified and emergency services are alerted.
The system could be handy for forgetful parents such as former Prime Minister David Cameron, who once famously left his then eight-year-old daughter Nancy for 15 minutes in a pub in 2012.
The new Merdedes CLA Class coupe detects a child in the vehicle through their distinctive breathing pattern
The system offers a reminder when the car is switched off. If the driver leaves and locks the vehicle with a child still inside, alerts are sent to the owner’s smartphone
A parked car’s interior can heat up by 10C in ten minutes. When the body reaches a core temperature of 40C, heatstroke occurs, which can be deadly. Children’s bodies heat up three to five times faster than an adult’s.
A Mercedes spokesman said: ‘Radio technology detects breathing patterns of living beings. This is done regardless of whether they are people or animals. However, our focus is on recognising children aged zero to six, who struggle to help themselves in critical situations.’
On average, 37 children under 15 die each year from heatstroke after being left in a vehicle in the US, according to meteorologist Jan Null at San Jose State University. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said statistics for the UK were not available.
Last month, a one-year-old died in Florida after he was left in a hot car all day, when his father forgot to take him to nursery following an appointment. When the man went to collect his son, he was told he hadn’t dropped him off. The boy was then found dead in the vehicle.