No Excuse Left: Why Are Children Still Dying in Hot Cars in 2025? | Dr. Christina Christopher Laster

Every summer, the headlines roll in.

Another child… dead.

Trapped in a hot car. Forgotten.

A community shattered. A family destroyed. And the rest of us left shaking our heads asking the same question we asked last year—and the year before that:

How is this still happening?

It should be unthinkable. In 2025, we know better. We’ve heard the warnings. We’ve seen the PSAs. We’ve read the tragic stories.

And yet, it keeps happening.

Let’s Be Honest — This Should Be Obsolete

The science is crystal clear. A car can become a death trap in minutes. Even at 70 degrees outside, the temperature inside a car can skyrocket past 100 degrees.

Children’s bodies heat up 3 to 5 times faster than adults.

Death isn’t slow. It’s brutal. It’s suffocating. And it’s preventable.

So why are we still here?

The Brutal Truth About the Human Brain

Most of these tragedies don’t happen because of neglect or cruelty.

They happen because the human brain—under stress, fatigue, and routine disruption—can literally misfire.

Experts call it Forgotten Baby Syndrome. Your brain’s prospective memory, the function that helps you remember to do something in the future, can completely fail.

This isn’t just a careless mistake—it’s a catastrophic neurological glitch.

The same brain that forgets where you left your keys or drives home on autopilot… can forget there’s a sleeping child in the back seat.

But Let’s Not Pretend This Is Just About Memory

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room:

This is also a systems failure.

We live in an era where cars can sense when you're drifting out of your lane, beep if your seatbelt isn’t clicked, and even park themselves.

But somehow, they don’t universally remind you if a living, breathing child is strapped into the backseat.

Make it make sense.

Profit Over Protection

The technology exists. Rear seat detection systems are real. Some manufacturers include them. Others don’t—because it’s not mandatory.

Why not?

Simple. Because regulators haven’t forced their hand. Because it costs money. Because, at the end of the day, the auto industry still gets to weigh a child’s life against their bottom line.

Hot car deaths are 100% preventable. This is a crisis of policy, industry, and accountability. No more excuses.

The American Pressure Cooker

Let’s get even more uncomfortable.

This doesn’t just happen because a parent “forgot.” It happens because parents in this country are drowning.

Juggling jobs, caregiving, the mental load of family life—all under a system that treats parenting as an individual burden rather than a collective responsibility.

Sleep deprivation. Chronic stress. Mental overload. All of these impair the brain’s memory function.

This isn’t just a parenting failure. It’s a societal failure.

No More Excuses. No More Deaths.

We don’t need another PSA. We don’t need another tragic headline. We don’t need another year of funerals for babies who died in a parked car.

What we need is action:

• Federal law mandating rear seat detection systems in every new car. No exceptions.

• Auto manufacturers held accountable for resisting common-sense safety measures.

• A public expectation that when we see a child alone in a car, we act. We intervene. We call for help.

• And a society that finally admits that raising children safely requires more than slogans—it requires structural support, protections, and policies.

Let’s Say It Plain:

No child should ever die in a parked car again.

Not in 2025. Not ever.

If You See Something, Do Something:

• Always check the back seat before walking away.

• Keep a personal item (phone, purse, shoe) next to your child’s car seat as a reminder.

• If you see a child alone in a car, call 911 immediately.

• Pressure lawmakers and car companies to prioritize child safety.

No excuse. No justification. No more preventable deaths.

The reality is simple: hot car deaths are preventable. There is no excuse left. Not in 2025. Not with the technology we have. Not with the data we know. Every time a child dies trapped in an overheated car, it represents a failure—not just of memory or oversight—but of policy, industry, and society’s collective responsibility. If lawmakers will not act, if manufacturers will not lead, then we—the public—must hold them accountable. Change only happens when silence ends. No more delays. No more excuses. No more children lost to something this preventable.

Dr. Christina Christopher Laster is a fundamental rights advocate and political affairs chair of NAACRO, fighting for justice-centered policies that protect children and families.