Hot Car Deaths In WI: What Parents Should Look Out For

WISCONSIN — Wisconsin hasn't had a child hot car death since 2013, but six deaths in four states in 2022 serve as a reminder to parents that cars can heat up quickly. Even on mild days, the inside of a car can become deadly in little as 10 minutes.

Tragic hot car deaths can happen in Wisconsin too. From 1998 through 2021, eight children 14 and younger have died from heatstroke in a car in the Badger State, according to No Heat Stroke.

That's 7.7 deaths per 1 million children 14 and younger, data from No Heat Stroke showed. Wisconsin ranks 18th in the country for hot car deaths, higher than Great Lakes neighbors Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan.

Two of the heat deaths happen in Milwaukee, and both were children were only four months old, No Heat Stroke data showed. One death happened in 2008 and another in 2009. The most recent death was in 2013, and the first was recorded in 2003. All victims' ages are here, and organized by state and town.

There have been six car deaths in four states — Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Pennsylvania — in 2022 as of Monday, data from KidsAndCars.org showed.

"Park, Look, Lock," And Other Tips For Parents

Research conducted by No Heat Stroke founder Jan Null, an adjunct professor and research meteorologist at San Jose State University, shows that on a 70-degree day, the temperature inside a vehicle can reach 89 degrees within five minutes. Within an hour, it can reach 113 degrees.

It’s even worse on 90-degree days. Within five minutes, the temperature can reach 100 degrees; in an hour, it can reach 133 degrees.

Consumer Reports said its tests show temperatures inside cars can reach dangerous levels for children and pets within an hour. One test showed that when the temperature outside was 61 degrees, the temperature inside reached more than 105 degrees within an hour.

Young children are at a heightened risk of dying of heatstroke, and not only due to their inability to escape a hot car. A child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than that of an adult, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Heatstroke begins when the core body temperature reaches about 104 degrees, and children can die when theirs reaches 107.

In many cases, a parent completely loses awareness that the child is in the car, according to David Diamond, professor of psychology, molecular pharmacology and physiology at the University of South Florida who has studied the hot car deaths phenomenon for 15 years.

His research shows parents can forget their kids are in the car as a result of competition among the brain’s memory systems — the “habit memory” system that allows people to perform routine tasks without thinking about them, and the “prospective memory” system used to plan. The habit memory system typically prevails, and the problem is particularly acute among parents experiencing sleep deprivation or stress, according to Diamond.

“Often these stories involve a distracted parent,” Gene Brewer, an Arizona State University associate professor of psychology, said in a news release. “Memory failures are remarkably powerful, and they happen to everyone. There is no difference between gender, class, personality, race or other traits. Functionally, there isn’t much of a difference between forgetting your keys and forgetting your child in the car.”

As the national child hot-car death toll since 1998 surpasses 900, the NHTSA offers some tips to help parents and other caregivers prevent leaving children in cars during hot weather.

• Never leave a child in a vehicle unattended — even if the windows are partially open or the engine is running and the air conditioning is on.

• Make it a habit to check your entire vehicle — front and back — before locking the door and walking away. Train yourself to “Park, Look, Lock,” or always ask yourself, "Where's Baby?"

• Ask your child care provider to call if your child doesn’t show up for care as expected.

• Place a personal item such as a purse or briefcase in the back seat, as another reminder to look before you lock. Write a note or place a stuffed animal in the passenger's seat to remind you that a child is in the back seat.

• Store car keys out of a child's reach, and teach children that a vehicle is not a play area. A quarter of all hot car deaths occur because the child got into an unlocked car, not because a parent left them inside, according to the NHTSA.