Guide to Rear Occupant Alert Systems

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Children and hot cars can be a fatal combination. On average, there are 38 heatstroke-related deaths each year. Consumer Reports' testing has shown that the temperature in a parked car can rise to dangerous levels on even a mild day. Our experts found that when it was 61° F outside, the temperature inside a closed car could reach more than 105° F in just an hour, an extremely dangerous and potentially fatal level for a child.

Many parents comment on social media outlets that such an accidental death would never happen to their child. But research has shown that anyone can forget a small child in a car, especially parents who have a change in their routine or those who are under stress. Just as drivers often find themselves lost in thought and navigating on autopilot, often getting to their destination without remembering details of the trip or missing a turn to run an errand, distracted parents can forget a quiet child or pet.

Many automakers now offer technology to help prevent these heatstroke deaths. These models have systems that can remind drivers that a rear door has been opened on a trip. A simple display in the gauge cluster, typically accompanied by a warning tone, encourages drivers to check the back seat.

The auto industry has committed to introducing rear-seat reminders that include a combination of auditory and visual alerts in essentially all cars and trucks by the 2025 model year.

Consumer Reports, along with many other advocates of child passenger safety, have pushed for automakers to provide integrated heatstroke prevention systems. And CR hopes to see them proliferate in the marketplace in many more mainstream, affordable vehicles, enabled straight from the factory and standard across all trims, says Jennifer Stockburger, director of operations at Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center.

CR favors systems that are delivered turned on as a default setting, because many parents don’t think they could make this mistake, Stockburger says. If parents or caregivers have to activate the system manually, it’s less likely to be used.

Consumer Reports' Rear-Seat Safety Score incorporates formal evaluations of rear occupant alert systems. Vehicles are awarded points for the presence of vehicle-integrated systems and evaluated on their performance.

Below are highlights of how these systems work based on our testing and experience. And there’s a chart that lists the vehicles that have an available rear occupant alert system. The chart indicates whether the system issues a reminder at the end of a trip and/or whether it has sensors to detect occupants that may have been left behind. Of course, whether your car has an alert system or not, always check the back seat, and never leave children unattended in a vehicle.

Essentially these systems can be identified as two main types: end-of-trip reminders and occupant sensing alerts.