Voxx gadget aims to prevent infant deaths in sweltering cars

Tuesday, January 06, 2015 | 6:42 PM    

LAS VEGAS, United States (AFP) – A new gadget aimed at preventing heat-related deaths of infants in parked cars is on show at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Voxx Electronics’ alert system is aimed at preventing absent-minded parents from leaving children alone in sweltering temperatures.

“As a parent, you don’t ever think you will ever do that,” Voxx Electronics president Tom Malone said after showing a video enactment of a woman scooting away from a parked car and forgetting a girl strapped in a rear seat.

“But, it happens.”

Malone cited statistics indicating that since 1998 more than 600 children have died from heat stroke after being left in vehicles.

Dashboards in the sun can essentially become fierce heating elements, turning passenger compartments into ovens, according to figures provided by Voxx.

Baby on Board combines child car seat weight sensors with key chain fobs that connect wirelessly using Bluetooth. A fob sounds an alarm if whoever is carrying it walks away from a vehicle while pressure sensors indicate that a child is still in a car seat.

Baby on Board will be available by the middle of this year at a price of US$60, according to Voxx.

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Voxx gadget aims to prevent infant deaths in sweltering cars

Chile investigates condor deaths

12 August 2013 Last updated at 20:46 ET Footage of the birds, who experts say are showing “signs of intoxication”

Health authorities are trying to find out what poisoned at least 20 condors in the Andes mountain range between Chile and Argentina.

The huge endangered birds, with a wingspan of up to 3m, were found near the town of Los Andes, about 80km east of the Chilean capital, Santiago.

The authorities say two birds died, but 18 are recovering at a clinic.

They suspect the damage may have been caused by eating carcasses of poisoned cattle, fox or puma.

Witnesses alerted the authorities on Sunday after seeing the condors, known for their effortless gliding at high altitudes, flying low and crashing into rocks.

‘Phosphorous compounds’

Once on the ground, they were not able to take off again and walked apparently dizzily and foaming from the beak, authorities say.

Continue reading the main story Two of the birds were reportedly found dead, as well as two foxes.

“[The poisoning] seems to have been caused by the ingestion of an ill animal or one that ate another being with some phosphorate compound,” the regional director of the Chilean Farming and Cattle Service, Pablo Vergara, told the Argentine newspaper Clarin.

The chemical compound can be found in herbicides and poison used to kill animals considered to be pests.

The poisoned condors were taken to a veterinary clinic, given an antidote and are said to be recovering.

The possibility of finding more animals with the same symptoms has not been ruled out.

The Andean condor is one of the world’s biggest bird species and is considered a symbol of the region.

Scientists estimate less than 10,000 condors live in the wild.

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Chile investigates condor deaths