The Dangers of Leaving a Child in a Hot Car Are Far Greater Than You Think

Very few adults realize the extent to which a child is put in danger when left in a hot car. Many assume the child will be safe because the adult will be gone for a short time, or because the car is not hot at the time the adult leaves the child. Most would be surprised to hear that 38 children die from heat stroke each year, on average, after being left alone in a car, and that at least 44 died in 2013. According to Safe Kids USA, children are at far greater risk of heatstroke than adults, as their bodies heat up between three and five times faster than ours.

Though approximately thirty percent of the heatstroke deaths sustained by children occur when the child decided to play in a car and becomes locked inside, another twenty percent results from an adult’s conscious decision to leave a child in a car in the belief that the child will be safe from harm while the adult is gone for a short time. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), however, it takes no more than a few minutes for a car’s interior temperature to become high enough to be deadly to a child who has been left inside. This can occur even when the outdoor temperature is not particularly hot.

Who is responsible if your child is injured or killed by heatstroke while in a hot car? As is true with all questions of legal liability, the answer will depend on the circumstances of the particular case.

Legal Liability for Children’s Heatstroke Injuries and Deaths

Though some children’s heatstroke deaths result from an adult’s intent to harm or kill a child, most are due to the negligence of the adult who is caring for the child when the injury or death occurs. In other cases, the negligence of someone other than a caregiver may lead to the child’s injury or death.

Negligence of Caregivers

When someone takes on the responsibility of caring for a child, that person is charged with the duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of the child while the child is under the person’s care. This duty is owed by babysitters, nannies, daycare-center employees, and even neighbors or relatives who agree to watch a child in the parents’ absence.

If a babysitter or other caregiver knowingly leaves a child in a car while shopping or engaging in other activities and the child is injured by heatstroke as a result, the caregiver may be found liable for the child’s injury in an action for negligence. If the child is killed as a result of heatstroke, the caregiver may be liable for the damages suffered by the child’s survivors through an action for wrongful death. Under most states’ laws, wrongful-death actions may be brought by the child’s immediate family members, such as the child’s parents and siblings.

In some cases, adults have accidentally left children in cars. The adult may have become distracted and forgotten that the child was in the car. When the adult is a babysitter or nanny who does not generally have a child along when the adult is driving, the adult is more likely to forget the child when exiting the car. This is particularly so when the child has fallen asleep.

Who is responsible when an adult accidentally leaves a child in a car and the child is injured or killed from heatstroke as a result? Under most states’ negligence laws, the adult may be found to have been negligent in forgetting the child who has been entrusted to that adult’s care. The failure to take precautions to ensure that a child will not be forgotten may be found to constitute a breach of the duty to exercise reasonable care for a child’s safety and result in the adult’s liability.

Negligence in Allowing Children Access to Cars

In many cases, a child is injured or killed by heatstroke when an adult has failed to lock a car and the child gains access to the car without the knowledge of the adult. The child may then become locked in the car, particularly if the car is equipped with child safety locks.

Is an adult who fails to lock a car responsible for injuries or deaths to children resulting from the child’s access to the car? Under most states’ negligence laws, the adult may be found liable for such injuries or deaths under certain circumstances. The failure to lock a car when the adult knew or should have known that children could gain access to the car may be found to constitute negligence on the part of the adult, even if the adult had not been entrusted with the care of the child who is injured or killed.

Do Not Underestimate the Dangers of Leaving a Child in a Car

Today’s writer, Jeffrey Killino, is a respected child-injury attorney who has dedicated his practice to keeping children safe and to holding individuals and entities whose negligence and defective products have injured or killed children responsible for their actions. He has achieved national recognition for his work in such cases on major television networks such as CNN, ABC FOX, and the Discovery Channel, including a case that led to an order compelling Mattel, Inc., to provide free lead testing to children who may have been exposed to lead-containing toys.

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The Latest Vehicles Recalled by GM Can Catch Fire Even When Not in Use

On August 8, 2014, GM was reported to have recalled 189,000 SUVs because of a defect in the vehicles’ power-window switches that can cause the SUVs to catch fire even when they are not in use. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), fluid, such as rain water, may enter the power-window switch module in one of these vehicles, causing corrosion and a short in the circuit board that can result in fire. This latest GM defect is reportedly so dangerous that GM has warned customers to park the vehicles outdoors rather than in garages until they can be repaired.

Though the recall was not issued until August 2014, NHTSA began investigating the problem in early 2012, after receiving complaints from consumers of fires erupting in the SUVs’ driver-side power-window switches. At least one complaint was filed as early as 2008 by a woman whose SUV burst into flames while the vehicle was turned off and parked in her driveway. According to reports, firefighters informed the woman that the fire had started in the driver’s door.

By August 2012, NHTSA and GM had reportedly received 242 complaints and reports of 28 fires, prompting an initial recall of 278,000 GM SUVs in cold-weather states. The remedy opted for by GM at the time of that recall was less costly than replacing the power-window switches. It also proved to be unsuccessful, as reports of fires continued even in vehicles that had received GM’s “fix.”

GM has promised to replace the defective switches in the SUVs subject to the 2014 recall, although replacement parts will not be available—at the earliest—until sometime in October. The affected vehicles include the Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, Isuzu Ascender, and Saab 97-X, primarily from model years 2006 and 2007.

Consumers need to be aware that if fires can start in these vehicles even when they are not in use, they can also start while the vehicles are being driven. This defect, like so many vehicle defects, has the potential to cause traffic accidents, serious injuries, and wrongful deaths.

Legal Liability for Injuries and Deaths Caused by Defective Cars, SUVs, and Other Motor Vehicles

Who may be held responsible for injuries and deaths caused by defects such as the one that has prompted this latest GM recall? Can the manufacturer still be found liable for injuries or deaths caused by a defect in a vehicle if the vehicle has been recalled?

Though the questions of liability, causation, and damages in such cases can be extremely complex, most states’ laws will hold the manufacturer and others in the chain of a defective vehicle’s distribution liable for injuries or deaths caused by the vehicle’s defect. This is so even when the vehicle has been recalled.

Product-liability Law

The manufacturer and others in the chain of an SUV or other motor vehicle’s distribution may be found liable for such injuries or deaths under the product-liability law of most states. Though the law of product liability may vary somewhat from state to state, most states have enacted some form of the Model Uniform Product Liability Act (MUPLA) and will hold certain defendants liable for injuries or deaths caused by defects in the vehicle’s design or manufacture or the failure to warn of certain dangers associated with the vehicle’s use. With most products, defendants that may be found liable include the product’s designer, manufacturer, assembler, distributor, retailer, and others in the chain of distribution. When a product-liability case involves injuries or deaths caused by a car or other motor vehicle, however, some states relieve the retailers of such vehicles from liability for injuries or deaths caused by defects of which the retailer was unaware.

Product liability actions provide an advantage to plaintiffs over negligence actions, as these actions can be brought as strict liability claims, which relieve the plaintiff of proving negligence on the part of any of the defendants or even knowledge of the defect that led to the injuries or deaths. The plaintiff need only establish that the defect existed, that it was a cause of the injuries or death, and that the injuries or death resulted in legally compensable damages.

In other words, the defendants in a product liability case may be found liable without regard to fault or knowledge. Thus, the recall of a defective motor vehicle or other product before an injury or death occurred will not relieve the defendants from liability for injuries or deaths caused by the vehicle defect.

Wrongful Death Law

When a defect in a car or other motor vehicle results in someone’s death, the laws of most states allow the survivors of the decedent to recover damages suffered by the survivors as a result of the death through the institution of a wrongful death suit. The survivors allowed to bring a wrongful-death suit generally include immediate family members, such as the decedent’s spouse and children.

Protect Yourself by Taking Recalls Seriously

Today’s writer,  Jeff Killino, is the managing partner of The Killino Firm, P.C. and a respected litigation attorney with extensive experience with cases arising out of injuries or deaths caused by defective cars and other motor vehicles, and urges all consumers to take this and other recalls very seriously. Attorney Killino has achieved national recognition on major television networks, such as CNN, ABC FOX, and the Discovery Channel, for his dedication to holding vehicle manufacturers accountable for the injuries and deaths caused by their defective vehicles. His involvement in such cases includes a national product-liability action that resulted in the recall of 450,000 defective tires manufactured in China.

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