For Immediate Release:
August 28, 2019

Contact:
Amber Rollins, 913-205-6973, [email protected]
Janette Fennell, 415-336-9279, [email protected]
Representative Pallone to Call for Lifesaving Automotive Updates to Prevent Children from Dying from Heatstroke
***Media Advisory***
 
Philadelphia, PA – On Thursday (8/29), Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) and Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, will call for technology in automobiles that will prevent hot car deaths, especially for children. According to KidsAndCars.org, more than 900 children have died in hot cars since 1990. Thirty-six children have already died this year . 

Speaking at the event will be KidsAndCars.org president and founder, Janette Fennell, a child vehicle safety expert and long-time advocate of technology along with education to prevent hot car tragedies.
 
Last month, a subcommittee of Pallone’s Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the Hot Cars Act that would require vehicles to be equipped with safety technologies to detect and alert a driver to the presence of a child or occupant in the rear seat after the engine is shut off. Technologies that alert drivers to check their backseats for children exist today but have not been widely deployed. 
 
WHO:
Speaking:
  • Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06)
  • Janette Fennell, president and founder, KidsAndCars.org
  • Sheriff Mildred S. Scott, Middlesex County
  • Frank Cunningham, M.D., FAAP, FACEP Medical Director, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Hackensack Meridian Health
  • Cathy Chase, Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety

Technology demonstrations by:
  • Donny Nordlicht, Hyundai USA
  • Joseph Funyak, IEE Sensing Inc.
 
WHAT:
Technology demonstration and press conference to call for lifesaving automotive updates
 
WHEN:
August 29, 2019 at 11:30 AM EST
 
WHERE:
Parking Lot near ER of JFK Medical Center, 65 James St., Edison, NJ
(Use Admitting, Drop-off & Pickup Entrance)
 
NOTES:
The event will be streamed live  here .
 
 
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KidsAndCars.org   is a national nonprofit dedicated to saving the lives of young children and pets in and around vehicles. The organization is devoted to eliminating vehicle-related risks that were previously unrecognized through data collection, research and analysis, public education and awareness programs, policy change, product redesign and supporting families to channel their grief into positive change. These everyday incidents include being run over, hot car deaths, carbon monoxide poisoning, car theft with children/animals inside, falls, knocking cars into gear, drowning inside vehicle, underage drivers, power window strangulation, trunk entrapment, etc.