In wake of twin tragedy
Push for ‘rear occupant’ car alert
A state bill requiring auto manufacturers to install a device to prevent children from being left in vehicles was introduced Friday as a wake was held for the twin babies who died in a Bronx car.
Tragic 1-year-olds Luna and Phoenix Rodriguez were dressed all in white and placed in side-byside white coffins at a Yonkers funeral home, where their parents — including their father, who says he forgot them in the car — mourned with dozens of supporters.
“Oh, my God. I love them so much. I can’t believe it,” sobbed dad Juan Rodriguez, 39, of Rockland County, in the lobby.
He has told authorities he forgot to take the babies to day care and instead left them in the back of the family’s sweltering Honda Accord for eight hours while he went to work one day last week.
The tragedy prompted state Sen. David Carlucci (D-Rockland) to introduce the Heatstroke Elimination Awareness Technology Act, which would require all passenger cars built after July 1, 2021, to have motion-activated technology to detect when a child has been left behind.
The legislation would mandate cars alert drivers — possibly with a beep and then louder honking — when someone is still in the vehicle, according to Carlucci.
“We’ve got to push and force the manufacturers to have a rear-seat detection standard. Kids can fall asleep in the back seat and [parents] forget,” Carlucci said. “It’s preventable. But it’s not preventable by telling parents to ‘do the right thing.’ ”
The lawmaker, who said 52 kids died in the United States last year after being left in hot cars, added, “The most outrageous thing is that . . . this technology exists and it’s not being used here.”
The bill — which so far includes few details about how the device would actually work or how the law would impact out-of-state carmakers — is meant to kick-start a nationwide law, according to Carlucci and lobbyists.
“The legislation is an important first step . . . It’s an important way to jump-start the conversation,” said John Corlett, a director of AAA’s legislative committee.
Congress is already considering legislation that would study the technology.
The devices may operate much like Hyundai’s 2019 Santa Fe model, which offers a “rear occupant alert” system with “ultrasonic motion sensors,” Carlucci said.