Some of us grew up before child car seats. Color televisions must have been a more exciting prospect than the safety of children. Then again, that was about the time you could run around in the woods a few miles away until dark, and no one really cared either.
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updated 1/30/19
Oh, Yay I’m So Happy I Got Stuck In The Snow…said no one EVER! Here are some tips on how to get your vehicle unstuck in snow.
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Upon researching the new 2017 GMC Acadia ‘rear seat reminder’, some harrowing statistics came up”. Each year in the U.S., about half of the children under the age of 14 who die of in-vehicle heatstroke, do so as a result of being forgotten” 1. Wyoming comes 51st on this list with no vehicular deaths (between 1998 and 2016) as a result of heatstroke. Nebraska comes 38th. The worst state is Arkansas with 16 child deaths. It’s not like Wyoming doesn’t reach high temperatures in the summer either, and whilst it is really difficult to write about this being a mother, this is great for WY, but is still a problem and could still potentially happen.
In 10 minutes, the temperature inside the vehicle can rise 19°F. In 2-4 hrs the temperature can rise as much as 55°F. Cracking the windows has less than a 3°F difference, ie. leaving the windows open a little doesn’t help.
ANIMATION (Courtesy GM and Jan Null, San Jose State University)
Wyoming does not have a law relating to leaving a child unattended. Neither does Arkansas (why not?) but Nebraska does. 2.
GMC came up with an industry first design called the ‘rear seat reminder’. It alerts drivers to check the rear seat before exiting the vehicle. The vehicle does not know if a person or item is in the back seat, but the alert is activated if the back doors are opened 10 minutes before it’s started or whilst driving. On exiting the vehicle, 5 alarms will sound and bring up a message on the driver display with a reminder to check the back seats. This is a standard feature on all 2017 GMC Acadia’s.
This doesn’t solve the problem of children being accidentally locked in vehicles, though. With newer vehicles, this shouldn’t be an issue with keyless entry. There are also ‘remote lock and unlock’ apps available on smartphones assuming the phone isn’t left in the vehicle. Then there are also third party companies associated with manufacturers such as OnStar and UConnect who can unlock vehicles via satellite connection. These features may require subscriptions for long term use. Manufacturers usually offer a free trial period with the purchase of a new vehicle.
“Source: Jan Null, CCM, Department of Meteorology and Climate Science, San Jose State University, http://noheatstroke.org“.
In a nutshell, these are both vehicle history reports sourced by the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number).
CarFax and Autocheck are two different companies that provide vehicle reports.
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The Toyota Dream Car Art Contest is running for the 11th year. Teachers can order a FREE kit here.
The contest is open to kids ages 4-15. There are three different age categories overall, 4-7, 8-11 and 12-15. Children are invited to submit hand-drawn artworks of their, “Dream Car”. They will be judged on uniqueness, execution of concept and artistry. For more information on the official rules, click http://tfsinthecommunity.com/DreamCar/. Nine winners in the United States will be selected by Toyota Financial Services (TFS) and forwarded to Japan in March to go up against the rest of the world. A global winner will be picked in August. Toyota says, “… the global competition is designed to inspire creativity in youth and encourage their interest in cars.” 1
A free trip to Japan. Thirty children from the global entries will receive a free trip to Tokyo (along with a guardian) in August for the awards ceremony.
Here are the winners from last year
Get out the paper and pencils, and get your child to draw on paper instead of the walls. Contest ends on January 31st, 2017.
The official judges have not been published yet, but last year http://cheechmarin.com/ was one, along with 11 other people including Toyota employees, automotive journalists, a hot wheels designer, art collectors, and artists.
Brett Osborne joins Fremont Motors as the Fleet Manager at the Casper Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram store. Brett has almost 30 years experience in the business. We asked him a few questions so you could get to know him a bit better.
Brett moved to Wyoming when he was around 10 or 11 so pretty much considers Casper, Wyoming his home, even though he was born in San Antonia, Texas. He ended up in the auto trade after being laid off in the oil industry in 1989. Brett is an expert on all things work truck and he’s usually the go-to guy when someone has a technical question about outfitted trucks, utility trucks, plow trucks, dump trucks, police interceptors, new cars, used cars, pretty much anything with four wheels.
His fleet and commercial customers are anyone from ‘mom and pop’ stores to big companies, cities, and municipalities. Bretts’ work ethic is to make sure his customers get the right vehicle for the job, not just because it’s a nice color. A common misconception Brett feels, is that people think they have to buy multiple vehicles to be considered fleet or commercial. This is not the case he said, one vehicle is enough to qualify. He also caters to individual retail customers too.
Brett has access to any make and model vehicles. If you’d like information on a vehicle or want to talk BBQ, give him a call at 307 248-5197 or email [email protected]
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