This is an open appeal to all car manufacturers in Malaysia – Perodua, Proton, Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Nissan, and the rest.
We have had three deaths due to thermal injury involving young children trapped in cars in the past four to five weeks:
- On October 5, 2023, an eight-month-old baby died in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
- On October 25, 2023, a 16-month-old child died in Terengganu.
- On November 9, 2023, a two-year-old child died in Ara Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
The devastation that the parents must be experiencing is beyond comprehension. Our hearts go out to the bereaved parents, and we hope they receive the support and understanding needed at such a difficult time.
As paediatricians, we are distressed about such child deaths, as we know that they are preventable. We need to view this as a national crisis and work together to prevent further deaths. A number of mechanisms have been suggested to help with prevention.
Of the suggestions, the most effective is engineering — using technology to make cars safer for children. Many car manufacturers overseas have long incorporated routine safety devices in their vehicles. These include:
- Car seats with built-in sensors or alarms let the driver know through a series of alarms when a child is still in the seat when the car engine is turned off. There are also sensor devices that can be added to a car seat to notify drivers of a child in the seat when the car engine is switched off. There are also child safety seats with heat sensors and alarms.
- Rear seat reminders give a routine audio reminder to the driver to check the rear of the car when the engine is switched off or when one opens the driver’s side door.
- Child presence detectors (cabin awareness) are video or sensor-based systems that are designed to sense micro movements, heartbeats, or breathing when theengine is turned off and alert the driver through an alarm or handphone alert.
- Another simple way is to install seat belt alarms for rear seat passengers that will obviously set off an alarm once the engine switches off and the belt buckle is still connected. The technology is already present in many cars, and just needs to be incorporated into the rear seat belts.
While increased parental supervision, child care providers, and societal vigilance are needed, these will not prevent many of such deaths. We require mechanisms that go beyond human behaviour.
Injury prevention research has shown that education and behaviour changes are poor mechanisms for prevention. Artificial intelligence or hybrid intelligence is the way forward.
Hence, we appeal to all car manufacturers to urgently put in place routine child safety technology in all new cars, if not already installed. The most promising technologies are rear seat reminders, seat belt alarms, and child presence detectors.
In addition, offer at reasonable prices to retrofit such technologies in all cars already on the road when they come for routine service inspection.
Car manufacturers have made a large profit from the public, it is time to give back. Please do not allow this deadly trend to continue by inaction. Cars must be safe devices to transport children, not death traps.
Signatories:
- Dr Amar-Singh HSS
- Dr See Kwee Ching
- Dr Selva Kumar Sivapunniam
- Prof Dr Krishnan Rajam
The signatories are consultant paediatricians.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
