(Thinkstock)
The Baby Bee Cool car seat cover, left, uses ice packs to keep the seat cool. A folding window shade, right, is convenient and effective.
On a hot summer day, the temperature inside your car can climb more than 40 degrees in an hour and reach dangerous highs. Here are some tips and products to keep your family comfortable and safe.
Kid safety
At least 30 children die each year from heat stroke in cars, most of whom were forgotten in the back seat, according to federal agencies and safety groups. Parents and caregivers should build in a mental reminder to ensure they remember their toddler is strapped in.
One idea is to leave a purse or briefcase -- an item one brings along by habit -- in the back seat with the child. When cars are parked at home, they should be locked to ensure that little ones don't open a door, climb inside and get stuck.
Window film and shades
Solar Gard makes a nearly colorless film that goes over your car's windows and can block up to 99 percent of ultraviolet rays and 66 percent of heat-causing infrared rays. The company says its film keeps the car's interior about 10 degrees cooler. It costs from $180 to $240 per car for a Solar Gard dealer to install.
Window shades have come a long way from the cardboard versions you used to cram into your front window. Top of the Line, which sells auto-detailing supplies and gadgets, offers a retractable, accordion-fold sun shade that attaches to one side of your front window. You can pull it across the window when you're parked and tuck it away when you're driving. It's $36.
New technology
Automakers and suppliers are working on warning systems to reduce incidents of children being forgotten in hot cars.
- General Motors has considered several types of technology to warn drivers that a child is in the back seat, including alarms that sound when the inside of a car gets dangerously hot and a person is still inside.
- Auto supplier Delphi patented technology in 2007 that warns when the temperature around a child seat gets too high. Delphi spokeswoman Barbara Graves says some automakers "have shown interest in the technology."
Cooled seats
Most luxury brands, including Cadillac, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti and Lexus, offer cooled seats. The system blows hot air away from your body and forces cooler air into the seat. You can also buy cooling seat cushions with adjustable fan speeds that plug into your car's outlet. Smarthome.com, an online electronics retailer, sells the Cooling Car Summer Seat for $48.
For children's car seats, there's the Baby Bee Cool cover, which uses ice packs to keep a seat cool for up to 10 hours when you're away from the car. The pad works on regular seats as well, and is $39 at babybeecool.com.
Air conditioning
Air conditioning can reduce your vehicle's fuel efficiency by up to 10 percent, according to personal-finance site Bankrate.com. If you're going 40 mph or less, consider rolling down the windows. At highway speeds, however, AC wins out -- at 55 mph, open windows create drag on the vehicle that can reduce fuel efficiency by 20 percent or more.
Leave a comment