Watchdog Seat Cover

Given the countless examples of drivers forgetting precious stuff in their cars, there is an obvious need for a watchdog system to notify the drivers not to leave their cars without whatever they are supposed to take with them.

By far the worst-case scenario is when the driver forgets his infant restrained in the child safety seat, only to find the toddler, a couple of hours later, baked and … dead. The issue is so serious – see http://www.insideedition.com/investigative/hot-cars.htm  – that there is a must for responsible people to find a solution that won’t allow these kind of dramas to ever happen again.

"These tragic deaths are entirely preventable," said Janette E. Fennell,
co-founder and executive director of KIDS 'N CARS. "Parents should
never, never leave children alone in a parked vehicle. Cars are
inappropriate places for children to be left without adult supervision.
There are systems already installed in our vehicles to warn us that we
have left our headlights on or our keys in the ignition. Our precious
children deserve at least that same protection."

Also a hurried and distraught driver way too often forgets his/her briefcase, only to remember in his/her office in front of the client s/he was supposed to make a presentation; and the presentation is in the briefcase forgotten on the car’s back seat …

Also how many times drivers in a rush to catch a plane realize only on the airplane that they forgot on their cars’ back seat their cameras, or presents for the Birthday they are going to, or whatever other important item? And so forth.

The “Watchdog seat cover” is designed to make sure that tragedies or inconveniencies like the ones mentioned above will never happen again.

The “Watchdog seat cover” consists of 2(two) seat covers (each incorporating a weight sensor), a microprocessor, power source and an alarm. Because the most traumatic incidents happen when a driver forgets his/her infant in the car, the following will be explained from the child safety seat perspective.

The 2 seat covers will be:

-         One for the child safety seat: Child Seat Cover;

-         One for the driver seat: Driver Seat Cover

Whenever something is placed/removed on/from either seat cover, the microprocessor will process the data according to the following logic table:

NOTE that the alarm’s sound doesn’t have to be an annoying noise; a lullaby song that will not bother even a sleeping child will perfectly do the job.

The seat covers can have a pressure or a weight sensor, although the simplest and cheapest version should have a normally open switch for the Child Seat Cover and a normally closed switch for the Driver Seat Cover (which is how I built my working prototype); the normally open switch for the Child Seat Cover is designed to sense every load 1/4lb and beyond, so it’s sensitive enough to detect a camera whenever it will be placed on the Child Seat Cover.

NOTE that ALL the cars have Forget-Me-Not devices (for at least headlights on, key in the ignition and seat belts), these are standards that ALL the drivers are used to, and people do not remove these systems or add switches to disable them; this is how things work and everybody is used to it. So there is no need to add a switch that will disable the Watchdog Seat Cover, which is, among all the car-related Forget-Me-Not devices, the only life-saver. If one forgets the headlights on the worst that can happen is a dead battery, but when s/he forgets the kid strapped in the Child Safety Seat something way more precious than the battery will die..

The principle the “Watchdog seat cover” works is similar to the warning system that is triggered when a driver is about to leave his/her car with the lights on (i.e., opening the car’s door – from the inside -- while forgetting to turn off the lights). But the “Watchdog seat cover” is designed to require no installation skills: the only thing the buyer has to do is to place/strap the 2(two) seat covers in the designated spots: One on the driver seat, and the second one on the child safety seat, or, if no child safety seat, plainly on the back seat. The system works on battery, with an option of being plugged into the cigarette lighter. A “low battery” warning device is also included.

Note that for some extra dollars, wireless and/or luxury versions will match the needs of more sophisticated/demanding drivers.

Some relevant links: 4rkidssake.org, kidsncars.org, nhtsa.dot.gov, safekids.org.

Drawing

(For the Watchdog Seat Cover)

© Copyright Dan Mimis

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