Alarm would remind parents of children left in car seats

Daniela Mohor

Friday, Nov. 30, 2001 | 9:10 a.m.

Alarmed by a series of deaths of babies left alone in cars last summer, a local pastor designed a safety device that reminds parents to remove a child from the car seat.

The prototype device, presented for the first time Thursday, is designed to be affixed to infants' and toddlers' car seats. It includes a weight sensor connected to the car's electronics, a voice module and speakers.

As soon as a baby is placed in the seat, an alarm telling parents to remember their baby is activated. The alarm, which sounds in English and Spanish, automatically stops when the motor of the car starts running.

The device is designed to fit in all types of vehicles and shouldn't cost more than $50 once the product is on the market, said Sandy Blake-Toles, the pastor of Love Center Unlimited, a nondenominational Christian group.

At this stage, the pastor has a patent pending for the product and is in conversation with different local manufacturers. There is no time set for its commercialization.

"We want to manufacture in the Las Vegas Valley," said Blake-Toles. "We want it to remain in Nevada and be a pilot for the rest of the nation ... But there is a legislation governing infant seats, and the procedure that we have to go through will take time."

Blake-Toles said she had the idea of designing the device in June when she read about the death of a 6-month-old boy. The boy was the second baby in a six-week period to die from extreme heat exposure after his parents forgot him in the car.

All across the nation, Blake-Toles said, babies have died in similar circumstances. Between 1996 and 2000, more than 130 children died from heat stroke after being trapped in a car, according to the National Safe Kids campaign, a national organization dedicated to the prevention of unintentional childhood injury.

"In my inner spirit I know the Lord himself said to me, 'You do (something about) it' and it was so startling that I went to my computer and ... put something together," she said. "I am alarmed that it hasn't been addressed prior in a more proactive approach."

After sketching her idea, Blake-Toles turned to a middle school student from her congregation, Arianna Beckett, 13, for help presenting her concept.

The two then went to Larry Thomas, director of the automotive department at Community College of Southern Nevada, who built and installed the device.

The model presented Thursday is designed for children who weigh between 10 and 50 pounds. The pastor and her collaborators, however, are currently developing a model that works for newborns as well.