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Walmart has revealed a new infant car seat that could help prevent hot car deaths

Technology has emerged that will help prevent tragic deaths of infants left in hot cars.

On average, 38 children die every year from being trapped in hot cars. According to the nonprofit KidsAndCars.org, about half the cases are due to children being forgotten in the back seat.

For that reason, Walmart and Evenflo have announced a new infant car seat with technology designed to remind drivers with an alarm of their backseat passenger.

CNN outlined what the new product provides:

The Evenflo Advanced Embrace with SensorSafe infant car seat retails for about $150, which is comparable to other popular infant car seats on the market. It has a wireless receiver that plugs into a car’s on-board diagnostic port and syncs with the chest clip that goes around the baby. It does not require the use of Bluetooth, cellular or other devices.

Sarah McKinney, Walmart’s director of corporate communications, told CNN that the sound alarms were specifically designed to not resemble the noises a car makes for other notifications. Basically it lets you know if the child hasn’t been unclipped as you leave the car.

The SensorSafe car seat retails at around $150, which is similar to other seats on the market.

“It’s the first and only crash-tested car seat that has this type of technology embedded,” McKinney said. “Right now (on the market) it’s more attachments or accessories or mobile apps, but there’s not one that’s an actual car seat that has this technology.”

The car seat will be available exclusively at Walmart for one year. It’s available now on Walmart.com and will be in stores mid-August.

“This is the first time where I can say with a great deal of confidence that there is something that works, and you’ve got some big companies behind it, and it will save lives,” Janette E. Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, said. “Because it’s been crash tested, I have a high degree of faith that it will work, and you don’t have to do anything extra. … It’s literally getting it set up one time and then every time you put the baby in, of course you’re going to close the chest clip and then it’s activated.”

Photo: Flickr user larkin.family

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