It’s the stuff of new parent nightmares; you lock your car in the shopping mall parking lot and walk off, leaving your infant strapped into a baby seat in the back of your car. In the summer, this could even be a life-threatening situation. Fortunately, Walmart has partnered with car seat maker Evenflo to create a product that solves this very problem.
The new Embrace seat is equipped with Advanced SensorSafe technology. This uses a wireless connection between the seat and a dongle that you plug into your car’s On Board Diagnostic (OBD) port. When the chest clip is closed to strap the child into the seat, it sends a signal to the dongle. If the ignition is turned off while the chest clip is still buckled, an alert tone plays to warn the driver. This is similar to the alerts that you get if you forget to turn the car lights off or some other condition that needs your attention before you leave the car.
This is an interesting design that takes advantage of the computer systems already present in all new cars, and adding a feature that will give peace of mind to parents of infants. This technology will give sleep-deprived and distracted new parents one less reason to have nightmares.
