As temperatures continue to rise this summer, knowing how to keep your kids safe in hot cars is essential for their well-being.
Cars can heat up quickly on hot days. On an 80-degree day, a car can reach 109 degrees in just 20 minutes and 123 degrees in an hour.
The recent heat wave has claimed a life in Ohio, after a child died June 27 in Mansfield after being left in a hot car, the Mansfield News Journal reported.
The death in Mansfield is not an isolated incident — hot cars claim the lives of dozens of children a year. Since 1990, at least 1,134 children have died in hot cars in the United States and at least another 7,500 survived with varying degrees of injury according to data compiled by advocacy group Kids and Car Safety.
In 2025, nine children have died as a result of being in a hot car, including the one in Mansfield, according to Kids and Car Safety, which tracks such incidents.
In 2024, hot cars claimed the lives of 40 children and 29 in 2023.
How to keep kids safe from hot cars in the summer
Here are some tips and best practices for making sure you don’t leave your child in the backseat of a hot car:
Cole Behrens covers K-12 education and school districts in central Ohio. Have a tip? Contact Cole at cbehrens@dispatch.com or connect with him on X at @Colebehr_report
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: As temperatures climb, here’s how to keep your kids safe from deadly hot cars
Reporting by Cole Behrens, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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