Vehicle incidents are the #1 killer of children in the United States
Making vehicles safer for children since 1996
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Kids and Car Safety (KACS) is recognized as the #1 authority on nontraffic incidents that injure and kill children. The team is regularly sought out as experts on all child vehicle safety topics for speaking engagements, conferences, Congressional testimony, and media interviews.
KACS changed the entire transportation data collection philosophy and structure in the U.S. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is now required to collect nontraffic data. NHTSA's first report issued in January of 2009 highlighted over 1,700 fatalities and over 840,000 Emergency Room visits for vehicle-related injuries that take place on private property every year.
KACS has influenced the passage of laws in dozens of states to raise awareness and make it illegal to leave kids alone in cars. Good Samaritan laws are being passed to protect citizens from liability if they rescue a child, pet, or adult trapped inside a vehicle.
Kids and Car Safety's data and leadership have been the basis for many major successes in making vehicles safer for children (and others) through product redesign. These safety changes affect ALL vehicles sold or leased in the United States regardless of where they are made.
As of May 2018, all new vehicles are required to have a rearview camera as standard equipment. The number of reported backover incidents are beginning to decrease as more vehicles are purchased with rearview cameras.
Safer "pull up to close" and "push down to open" power window switches have now been installed in all vehicles since October 2010. The dangerous rocker and toggle power window switches are no longer allowed. The number of power window strangulations and injuries have gone down drastically.
As of 2010, all vehicles with automatic transmissions are required to be equipped with a system that requires the brake pedal to be depressed before the car can be shifted out of park. There has been a significant decrease in the number of children injured or killed from setting vehicles into motion.
Glow-in-the-dark internal trunk release mechanisms are required inside the trunks of all vehicles model year 2002 or newer. There have not been any deaths in the trunk of a car that has an inside the trunk release. Zero.
A provision was passed in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) with a mandate for action by the U.S. Department of Transportation aimed at preventing hot car tragedies. Soon all new vehicles will come with technology to help prevent hot car deaths as standard equipment.
A provision passed in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) mandates action by the U.S. Department of Transportation to require a safety standard so all vehicles will automatically shut off if inadvertently left running. This risk has drastically increased in vehicles with keyless ignitions and can cause carbon monoxide to silently leak into a home.
The Look Before You Lock (LBYL) national program is aimed at preventing child hot car deaths and injuries. The program provides free educational materials to hospitals, birthing centers, OBGYN offices, pediatric and family practice offices, early childhood education programs, public health departments, and child care providers. To date, well over one million LBYL cards have been distributed.
The Childproof Your Ride (CYR) program provides parents with a comprehensive resource about the many dangers children face in and around vehicles and what they can do to mitigate those risks. The program serves as a "one-stop-shop" for parents to learn everything they need to know about vehicle safety for their children.
Kids and Car Safety is featured in local, national and international media outlets regularly to heighten awareness about the dangers children face in and around vehicles. In 2019, Kids and Car Safety was featured in over 5,200 television and print media reports with a total media reach of over 14.2 billion in the U.S.
