Chevrolet Shares Crucial Child Safety Tips for Summer Travel: Car Seats, Heatstroke Awareness, and Smart Technology Integration
Summer is in full swing, and that often means families are hitting the road for vacations, weekend getaways, or visits to the beach. While the excitement of travel is in the air, Chevrolet and General Motors are urging families to remember one key priority during these long drives: child safety inside vehicles. From proper car seat use to the dangers of heatstroke, the company is emphasizing the importance of being informed, cautious, and proactive—especially during the hot summer months when these risks are most severe.
The Hidden Dangers of Summer Travel
As the lead Child Passenger Safety Engineer at General Motors, there’s a deep personal and professional responsibility to ensure families understand the real dangers that exist in summer travel—particularly those related to children. The combination of high temperatures and long hours in vehicles can lead to tragic outcomes, many of which are entirely preventable with the right awareness and action.
To bring attention to these risks, Chevrolet recently hosted a dedicated event at the Milford Proving Ground Vehicle Safety and Crashworthiness Lab. The focus was on showcasing best practices for car seat installation and offering hands-on safety demonstrations using some of Chevrolet’s most family-friendly models, including the Chevrolet Traverse, Equinox, and the all-electric Equinox EV. Parents and caregivers were given the opportunity to see the importance of correct car seat positioning, learn how driver assistance technologies can help, and witness just how quickly the interior of a vehicle can overheat—even on days that don’t feel especially warm.
Heatstroke in Vehicles: A Growing and Preventable Crisis
Since 1998, more than 1,000 children in the United States have lost their lives due to vehicular heatstroke. Alarmingly, the trend is growing. In 2024 alone, there were 39 child deaths—representing a 35% increase from the previous year. As of mid-2025, 15 more children have died from heatstroke inside vehicles, 10 of those since just early June.
The vast majority of these incidents occur when children are inadvertently left in the back seat. Many parents believe it could never happen to them—but distractions, stress, and changes in routine make it all too easy to forget a sleeping or quiet child in the rear. And contrary to common belief, the outside temperature doesn’t need to be extreme for danger to set in. On a 72-degree day, for instance, the temperature inside a parked car can rise by 20 degrees in just 10 minutes. This kind of heat buildup can quickly become fatal, especially since children’s bodies heat up three to five times faster than adults’.
Preventing Heatstroke: The A.C.T. Strategy
To address this, safety advocates like Safe Kids Worldwide recommend the A.C.T. approach to prevent heatstroke:
- A: Avoid leaving a child in a vehicle for any length of time. It’s never safe—not even for a short errand.
- C: Create Reminders to check the back seat before exiting. This could be as simple as placing your phone, purse, or work badge in the rear seat. General Motors supports this effort with its Rear Seat Reminder feature, which provides an alert when a rear door has been opened before or during a trip.
- T: Take Action if you see a child alone in a car. Call 911 immediately. You could save a life.
Introduced in 2016, GM’s Rear Seat Reminder was the first of its kind and helped set the standard for the industry. While it doesn’t detect passengers or items, it operates based on rear door activity and delivers a clear reminder to check the back seat when you exit.
Car Seat Safety: Reduce Risk with Proper Use
When used correctly, car seats can reduce the risk of fatal injury by as much as 71%. However, statistics from Safe Kids Worldwide show that over half of car seats are used or installed improperly. This alarming figure is why Chevrolet continues to educate families on the basics of proper car seat use:
- Keep children rear-facing for as long as possible. It’s the safest position and should be maintained until at least age two or until the child exceeds the seat’s height or weight limits.
- Check for a tight install. The seat should not move more than an inch side-to-side or front-to-back.
- Harness straps should lie flat and snug. There should be no pinching when you test the harness, and straps should be at or below the child’s shoulders when rear-facing.
- Avoid aftermarket accessories that didn’t come with the seat, including mirrors and cushions. These can compromise safety in a crash.
- Avoid buying used car seats. You may not know their crash history, and they may be expired or compromised.
Enhanced Support Through Technology
Chevrolet and GM also offer features beyond passive safety tools. For vehicles equipped with OnStar, parents can benefit from a host of support services in emergency scenarios. If a child is accidentally locked inside a vehicle, OnStar can initiate a remote unlock or even connect a parent to the car via phone so the child can hear a familiar, calming voice until help arrives.
In addition, Chevy Safety Assist—now standard on most 2025 and newer Chevrolet models—bundles critical driver assistance tools like Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Keep Assist, Forward Collision Alert, and more. These systems, paired with the Teen Driver feature, which allows parents to set safety parameters for young drivers, show Chevrolet’s commitment to comprehensive family safety.
Summer Safety Starts with You
Although technology is advancing and vehicle safety features are evolving rapidly, there’s no substitute for parental vigilance and attentiveness. Summer should be a season of adventure and joy, not tragedy.
So as you prepare for your next family road trip, remember: always buckle your children in properly, never leave them unattended in a vehicle, and use every tool at your disposal to stay alert. Chevrolet and GM are proud to lead the way in safety technology—but ultimately, the most powerful safety feature in any vehicle is a well-informed caregiver.
