Minnetonka Man Makes it his Mission to Stop Kids from Dying in Hot Cars

Every year, children die from overheating in vehicles. In 2010, 49 children in the United States, from ages two months to six years, died from heat stroke while unattended in vehicles – the worst year on record.

Now, one Minnetonka man has made it his mission to stop these tragedies.

“Each year I read about these and I realized no one does it intentionally,” Jack Sukov said.

National Problem, Local Solution?

Sukov has developed and manufactured warning signs for display in parking lots. The hope, he said, is to educate parents about the danger of children overheating in cars.   

“We need to education, to inform, to warn people,” he said. “We’re fortunate that it does not happen all the time, but when it does happen, it’s so tragic and so unnecessary.”

While the National Weather Service has issued an  for Minnetonka through Wednesday, anticipating the heat index to exceed 105 degrees, officials warn that children have died in cars from heat stroke in February and when the outside temperature was as low as 57 degrees.

How Does This Happen?

"The public is generally unaware that sunlight can raise the inside temperature of a car by just 19 degrees in 10 minutes. At 104 degrees, the body begins to shut down, and at 107 degrees, death occurs," the St. Paul Fire Department said in an advisory Friday. 

According to a study done by San Francisco State University, 17 percent of the children who died from overheating in vehicles in the U.S. between 1998 and 2010, were intentionally left in vehicle by an adult.

Just last month, after she left her toddler alone in a running car for more than 20 minutes while she was inside the mall. Police reported that it was 87 degrees at the time of the incident. Although the car's fan and air conditioning were running, it felt very hot inside the vehicle, police said.

“People don’t know just how quick it happens,” Sukov said. “That is the real thing that has to get across.”

Sukov is right. On a warm day, 20 degrees or more cooler than it will be today, a car’s interior can reach lethal temperatures within minutes, according to Safe Kids USA and the General Motors Foundation. Also, the groups warn, a child’s small body heats up almost five times faster than an adult’s.

For that reason, Sukov is considering reconfiguring his signs to include several thermometers and the line “75° to 110° in minutes.” He’s already made Spanish-language versions available.  

Sukov’s signs aren’t only meant to educate, but also to remind adults that their children are in the car. Fifty-one percent of the children who died from overheating in vehicles between 1998 and 2010 in the U.S. were “forgotten” by their caregivers.

Over the last few years, Sukov has spent many hours and about $500 developing his two prototype warning signs. While he’s had help from friends and family with the signs’ catch phrases and graphics, it’s now up to this Minnetonka retiree to convince local businesses, malls and health clubs to hang the signs in their parking lots.

“At food stores, all box retailers, malls…where people are tempted to just run in for a few minutes,” Sukov said. “The next thing they know….”

This danger doesn’t just exist in public parking lots, but also in private driveways. 

According to Safe Kids USA, every year in the U.S. there are about 250,000 confirmed cases of children trapped in vehicles— not counting the thousands of children rescued by fire and police departments.

“It’s vital that children never be left unattended in a vehicle and keys are kept out of a child’s reach,” said David Strickland, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “We urge all parents and caregivers to make a habit of looking in the vehicle - front and back - before locking the door and walking away. If a child is missing, check the vehicle, including the trunk.”

According to a recent study at San Francisco State University, between 1998 and 2010, four Minnesota children died due to hyperthermia (heat stroke) from being in hot vehicles. According to that data, the most recent incident in Minnesota occurred in 2006 when a three-year-old girl from Osage died after she climbed into the family car to play a video game. In 2005, the report said, a 15-month-old from Browns Valley, Minnesota died after her father reportedly forgot she was in the car.

Don't Forget the Four-Legged Friends

It’s not only children who are susceptible to high temperatures in cars, Sukov said. 

Foster parents to Bassett Hounds, Sukov and his wife also want people to remember that pets can die from heat stroke inside cars. It’s a concern that the Golden Valley-based echoed in a warning to local pet owners Saturday.

Signs of the Future?

“It’s through that interest in pets and people that our hearts just go out," Sukov said. "This is more than just Minnetonka-wide."

Or even Minnesota-wide.

Sukov said he hopes his warning signs will become standard in parking lots across the country: “It’s so serious and so tragic.”