A back-seat sensor that watches the cabin after the engine stops and escalates through driver, emergency contacts, and 911 until someone responds.
HeatSentry runs a 40-participant SMS forgetfulness study with caregivers of children under five. Each morning a single yes-or-no text reaches the driver with a single back-seat question, before the cabin reaches failure temperature. The methodology and protocol are on the About page.
If the SMS prompt is missed or the sensor detects occupant-plus-temperature inside the vehicle after the door closes, the companion app pushes an unmissable alert: full-screen, persistent, with a loud rising-tone siren that overrides silent mode. Designed for the disrupted-morning failure mode the SMS study keeps surfacing.
If the driver does not acknowledge in 60 seconds, the alert cascades to a configurable list of emergency contacts (spouse, grandparent, neighbor) in priority order, then to 911 with the vehicle’s last-known GPS fix. The escalation chain is the product — the sensor is just the trigger that starts it.
The 38-child annual hot-car death toll is overwhelmingly concentrated in children under five, and overwhelmingly on the disrupted-morning failure mode. HeatSentry is shaped around that exact caregiver population. Background: Safety Stats.
Hundreds of pets die in hot cars every year in the United States, with the same backend failure mode — a brief errand becomes a fatal cabin. One sensor protects the rear seat and the cargo area; no separate SKU required. See the supporting numbers: Safety Stats.
Multi-recipient escalation was designed for fleet use first: a missed check on a daycare van has to reach the operator and the parent, not just the driver. Fleet operators can preconfigure contact lists per vehicle and audit alert history from a single dashboard. Reference: Safety Stats.
Most new vehicles ship with an OEM rear-seat reminder — a chime when the ignition cycles without rear-door activity. HeatSentry solves a different problem on a different axis. The OEM system relies on the driver being in the seat at the right moment; HeatSentry watches the cabin independently.
| Capability | OEM rear-seat reminder | HeatSentry |
|---|---|---|
| Occupant detection (not just door activity) | No | Yes — weight + motion |
| Ambient cabin temperature threshold | No | Yes — clinical thresholds |
| Alerts outside the driver’s phone | No | Yes — emergency contacts + 911 |
| Coverage for pets in cargo areas | No | Yes — same hardware |
| Works without a connected-car subscription | No — vehicle-tied | Yes — retrofits any vehicle |
| Independent of driver presence | No | Yes — escalation runs on the sensor |
General availability is rolling out in cohorts from the waitlist. Joining takes a single email. We do not share the list, and we will not spam between now and launch.