Skip to main content

A new in-car safety device is now on the market which could save thousands of children from being left unattended in a hot car.

Dubbed by its creator, Jason Cawthra as “the first of its kind” in Australia, the device called Infalurt is an alert system that uses “a combination of capacitive sensing, battery operation and short-range ISM radio communications.”

According to Kid Safe Australia, over 5,000 children rescued after being left unattended in a car. Furthermore, over the past five years, 10 children have died after being left in hot cars. Half of these deaths happened in Queensland.

“After seeing the tragic death rates for children left unattended in child car safety seats, I commenced a global search to identify if an alarm system already existed. It didn’t. I made it my mission to develop a simple and effective device,” he said.

“Just as fitted car seats are mandatory, we believe this device is just as necessary to keep kids safe,” Mr Cawthra added.

“Infalurt was developed to give parents peace of mind. We would like to see every car fitted with an alert system to prevent needless deaths.”

The system features three main components: a sensor that sits beneath the child seat, a control unit placed in an accessible position to the driver, and a key fob alarm.

Want to know more about vehicle safety features? AfMA offers a course on Understanding Vehicle Safety Features that you can see here.