What Is a Rear Seat Reminder and Why Is It So Important?

Did you know that over the past two decades, an average of 38 lives have been lost every year due to heat-related deaths in vehicles? Cabin temperatures can reach alarming heat levels in a short period of time, making it dangerous for children or pets to be left in the car. To help prevent this from happening, several car manufacturers have begun to offer rear seat reminder systems.

What Is a Rear Seat Reminder?

This safety feature comes with many names: rear seat reminder, rear occupant alert, rear door alert, or rear passenger alert. Whatever you want to call it, its function and purpose stay the same.

It alerts drivers to check the back seat of their cars, where they might have forgotten their child, pet, or takeout food. On most vehicles, the system sounds an alarm or flashes a warning on the display screen.

Why Rear Occupant Alerts Are Useful

It might seem like such a basic feature compared to other safety systems, but it can actually save lives. After just an hour, the interior of a vehicle can reach an alarming 105 degrees Fahrenheit, which can be fatal to children and pets trapped inside.

A rear occupant alert system can remind parents who might accidentally leave their kids buckled in the backseat. This safety feature can also inform parents of kids who might have snuck into the rear seats unnoticed, which happens a lot more often than you might think.

How Do Rear Seat Reminder Systems Work?

As rear seat reminders have gradually become more common among modern vehicles, manufacturers have taken different approaches to make their own systems stand out. Here are some common ways of how rear seat reminder systems work:

Screen Reminders

On most vehicles, the rear seat reminder system flashes a warning to check the rear seat on the display screen on the center console.

Door Logic Systems

Most modern vehicles equipped with this feature use a door-sequencing logic that activates the rear occupant alert system. When you open one of your rear doors before starting your vehicle, the system turns on. It then sounds an alarm or flashes a warning on the screen prompting you to check your rear seats if it doesn’t detect your rear doors opening after you park your car.

Motion Detectors

Aside from door logic systems, some Hyundai and Kia models also use motion sensors that send alerts to the owner’s phone if they detect movement in the back seat. These ultrasonic sensors can detect movement up to 24 hours after being parked.

Future Advanced Systems

It’s only just the beginning for rear seat reminder systems, so we can look forward to advanced technology in the near future. Most manufacturers are currently researching ways to create even more advanced detectors. For example, Hyundai recently developed a radar-based sensor that can detect even the smallest movements of a sleeping infant in the back seat of a car.

Which Cars Offer Rear Seat Reminder Systems?

Rear seat reminder systems are relatively new, but you’d be surprised by how quickly they’ve become a standard feature in many 2024 models. Here’s a list of manufacturers that have released models with this feature:

• Acura
• Buick
• Cadillac
• Chevrolet
• Chrysler
• Dodge
• Ford
• Genesis
• GMC
• Honda
• Hyundai
• Infiniti
• Jeep
• Kia
• Lincoln
• Nissan
• Subaru
• Toyota

By 2025, you can expect most automakers, if not all, to make this a standard feature.

Are Rear Seat Reminders Mandatory?

In November 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law. The IIJA includes a provision that addresses hot car deaths by requiring all automakers to install an audio and visual reminder alert that prompts a driver to check their rear seat before exiting the vehicle.

However, members of the Association of Global Automakers and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers didn’t wait until this bill was signed. Thanks to their combined efforts, around 98% of new cars in the US will already have this safety feature as standard equipment by 2025.

How To Turn Off Your Rear Seat Reminder

Not every vehicle owner travels with a child or pet, so it’s only natural for some to want to turn off this feature. Luckily, turning off your rear occupant alert is pretty easy. The exact procedure can vary depending on your vehicle’s year, make, and model. In general, however, you just have to open your vehicle’s settings menu, select “Rear Seat Reminder,” and click “Off.”

Do keep in mind that this feature is there for a reason. If you travel with kids, pets, or other regular passengers in the back seat, don’t turn off your rear seat reminder. Most parents think they could never forget their kids in the car, but research shows that it can happen to anyone.

Even the most responsible parents can make mistakes, especially those who are under a lot of stress or frequently change their routines. Don’t take the risk and keep your kids safe with your rear seat reminder on.