JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Just roughly in the last month, 10 children in the U.S. have died after being left in hot cars — including one in Georgia and one in Florida. 

In Volusia County, Florida, deputies say a father got a haircut, went out drinking and left his young son — Sebastian — in a sweltering truck for three hours. The child’s body temperature rose above 107 degrees. He didn’t survive. 

In Georgia, police smashed through a car window to rescue two children left crying inside a vehicle at a mall. It was 117 degrees inside that car. Officers say shoppers heard the screams and dialed 911 in time.

These are just two recent cases among a tragic, ongoing crisis.

July 19. 2025  marks two years since Brooke Paige of Macclenny lost her baby girl, Ariya Paige, in a devastating hot car tragedy.

“Yes, it hurts. It hurts really bad,” Brooke told First Coast News.

Ariya, just 10 months old, was accidentally left in a babysitter’s car for five hours. The sitter, Rhonda Jewell, was convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to 17 years in prison. That case is now on appeal.

Brooke still wakes up from nightmares.

“I remember staying at my mom’s house and waking up and just screaming,” she said.

Now, she’s on a mission to prevent other parents from living her pain. Her message is simple: “Put your diaper bag in the front. Your phone in the backseat.”

• In 2023, 29 children died in hot cars across the U.S.

• 6 of those deaths happened in Florida
  (Source: KidsAndCars.org)

• Since 1990, at least 1,138 children have died this way.

“This amount of children losing their lives over something so preventable is crazy,” Brooke said. “And it’s heartbreaking for families.”

Reggie, a father in Fort Myers, still relives the moment from 2010 when he found his daughter Payton lifeless in the backseat.

“She had her mom’s eyes. She had the most beautiful blue eyes,” he said.

He’d taken Payton to the doctor. On the way home, she fell asleep. Reggie drove straight to work — a habit — and forgot she was in the car. Hours later, when he returned to grab his laptop from the backseat, he made the tragic discovery. “Just seeing her in the seat… and then, oh my gosh… I forgot my child in the car.”

He was so consumed with guilt that he had an MRI done, trying to see if something was wrong with his brain. “I was looking for answers. But there weren’t any.”

His message now is urgent:

“Just don’t think it can’t happen to you.”

So why do hot car deaths keep happening?

Amber Rollins-Reis, Director of the nonprofit Kids and Car Safety, says the problem lies with inconsistent technology and delayed federal action.

“Every single vehicle right now operates differently,” she said. “Nobody understands what these systems can and can’t do.”

In 2021, Congress passed a law mandating that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) require all carmakers to install a “distinct auditory and visual” rear seat alert system by November 2023.

But that deadline has come and gone.

“I’m incredibly frustrated. This rule is more than a year past due,” Rollins-Reis said.

According to NHTSA, they are still conducting “complex testing” — including in some popular vehicles like Genesis GV70, Toyota Sienna, Volvo EX90, Audi Q6 e-tron and Tesla Model Y

Watch a demo here: NHTSA Rear Alert Test – YouTube

And listen here: Beeping alert if you leave the car

Advocates have a tip for every parent or caregiver:

“Next time you put your baby in the car, leave one shoe in the backseat.”

When you step out and your foot hits the pavement — with one shoe missing — you’ll realize something’s wrong.

This simple action could save a life. Even if your car beeps, the shoe method might be better. 

“My car beeps at me all the time. I don’t speak beep,” Rollins-Reis says, referring to alert fatigue.

She thinks an even better idea would be to leave a stuffed animal in the backseat all the time. Then when you buckle in your child, put that stuffed animal in your lap or next to you. It can be a powerful reminder your little one is in the backseat where you can’t see your child. Rollins-Reis points out that generations ago children rode in the front and it was much easier for parents to see them all the time.

In Washington, D.C., advocates for child safety recently hung up 1,086 infant onesies to represent children lost to hot car deaths.

Many are demanding NHTSA take action now — and not wait for more research.

“There’s no excuse. Babies just continue dying,” Rollins-Reis said.

In an email to First Coast News, the NHTSA wrote:

“For guidance, we would refer you to NoHeatstroke.org for the most current data – six children have died in less than two weeks, including four in four consecutive days.”

Attributable to a NHTSA spokesperson: 

Since 1998, more than 1,000 children have died of heatstroke because they were left or became trapped in a hot car. While parents and caregivers often believe they would never leave a child unattended in a car or forget their child in the back seat, the facts show it can happen to anyone. During the summer months, but also all year long, everyone needs to understand that children are far more vulnerable to heatstroke than adults.

To prevent these tragedies, NHTSA has initiated a rulemaking to require vehicles to have systems to alert drivers to check the back seat after a trip. As part of this complex rulemaking, NHTSA is analyzing more sophisticated technologies to detect and alert parents if a child is in the back seat, as well as assessing the effectiveness of seat occupant detection systems. The agency will continue to test additional systems as they become available to the public. For the latest on the rulemaking, please refer to the Unified Agenda. NHTSA does not have a cost estimate for the rulemaking at this time.

Here’s a breakdown of NHTSA actions on hot cars:

• To optimize the effectiveness of a new requirement to effectively address these heartbreaking tragedies, NHTSA is exploring the inclusion of occupant detection systems as part of its rulemaking process.
• NHTSA is testing current generation systems available on the Genesis GV70, Toyota Sienna, Volvo EX90, Audi Q6 e-tron and Tesla Model Y. It should be noted that advanced rear-seat occupant detection and alert systems available for purchase on new vehicles remain limited.
• The Investment and Infrastructure Jobs Act required research on both retrofitting systems in existing vehicles and guidance to consumers on selection criteria for aftermarket devices. NHTSA has conducted studies to test, evaluate, and estimate costs of available aftermarket devices. As direct sensing technology becomes more widely available, the agency will expand this work to assess the feasibility of retrofitting existing passenger vehicles with rear-seat alert systems. NHTSA will continue to closely monitor the market with respect to both aftermarket and retrofit solutions.
• In partnership with the Ad Council, NHTSA launched Stop. Look. Lock last year, a campaign to educate parents and caregivers about the danger that hot vehicles pose to children.
• NHTSA also released the “2025 Social Media Playbook” featuring ready-to-use content and assets to raise awareness about the risks to children who are forgotten, left behind, or who gain access to parked vehicles.
• Relatedly, 21 automakers voluntarily committed to add rear-seat reminder systems to their vehicles by model year 2025.

In addition to the above actions, starting in Fiscal Year 2024, states are obligated to use a portion of their federal highway safety grant funding (Section 402 funds) for heatstroke prevention activities, such as awareness campaigns.