GMC Rear Seat Alert Helps You Never Forget Your Dog In The Car Again

With summer finally taking its rightful place, people are bound to take the car more often to work (thanks to refreshing AC) and on weekend trips. The problems begin exactly during those two days of leisure time, when adults bring the family dog or child(ren) for hours of fun. They stay in the back while the driver is out for a cigar or a refuel, but in blistering heat that might end horribly. General Motors knows that so they came up with a pretty neat solution – a “cannot be unseen” reminder #automagic

We’re talking about the “Rear Seat Reminder” feature the redesigned 2017 Acadia comes with. By monitoring the car’s rear doors, it will activate when either door is opened and closed within 10 minutes before the engine is started or if they are opened and closed when the vehicle is running, explains GMC.  Then, the minute the car is turned off, after a door activation, 5 audible alerts will be triggered and displayed on the dash with the text: “Rear Seat Reminder Look in Rear Seat”.

In theory, it sounds great, but it’s very restrictive. Only one car model will potentially save lives this summer, so what happens to the rest of drivers? Besides hoping that GMC will apply the feature to more cars, they clearly shouldn’t pull a “Home Alone” scheme.

In this period of the year,  the temperature inside a vehicle can reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit, when it’s just 60 degrees outside, says Safercar.gov, powered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A child can die when the body temperature reaches 107 degrees.