David Kolman 5 14 Color 589234464ab6a

Kolman’s Komments: You really left that in the car?

Feb. 27, 2017
Where in the world did I leave that child?

I know we live in a harried and stressful world where our minds are constantly racing. Nevertheless, I find it incomprehensible that someone could forget about a child in the back seat and leave them unattended in their car.

Vehicle maker GM has done something about this. It has developed the Rear Seat Reminder Technology.

It is an industry-first feature designed to remind drivers, under certain circumstances, to check the back seat as they exit their vehicles.

A Monitor

The Rear Seat Reminder works by monitoring the vehicle’s rear doors. The feature activates when either rear door is opened and closed up to 10 minutes before the vehicle is started or while the vehicle is running. 

Once the system is activated, the vehicle is designed to sound five chimes and display a message in the driver information center that reads, “Rear Seat Reminder / Look in Rear Seat,” the next time the vehicle is turned off.

An Initial Step

The feature “is an initial step to use technology to help remind drivers to check the rear seat before exiting the vehicle under certain conditions,” says Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM Global Vehicle Safety. “We want to help everyone to take one simple, extra step.”

The technology will be offered on more than 20 2017 and 2018 Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC models.

It should be noted that GM’s Rear Seat Reminder cannot actually detect items in the back seat. Therefore, it is always important to check the rear seat prior to exiting a vehicle.

About the Author

David A. Kolman | Contributor - Fleet Maintenance

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