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submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

A 2-year-old girl has died after her father left her in a hot car in Arizona, where residents are enduring triple-digit temperatures, according to authorities.

The father was running errands with his daughter, and when he returned home Tuesday afternoon, he allegedly knowingly left the 2-year-old in the car, Marana Police Capt. Tim Brunenkant told ABC News.

He left the car running and the air conditioning on, Brunenkant said.

The dad went into the house, and when he returned to the car between 30 and 60 minutes later, the car was off, Brunenkant said.

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[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago

Why was the car off when he returned if he left it running with the AC on?

It’s a tragedy, but if I’m on the jury I’m not sure I would convict him.

[-] The_v@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

Many modern vehicles automatically turn off after 30-60 minutes idling "to save fuel". I order to turn it off you have to hit the A button on the dash. it's proven to be deadly.

[-] Thorry84@feddit.nl 2 points 4 months ago

Just curious, what kind of deadly situation is created when people leave their cars idling for so long?

I'm the kind of person that turns the car off if there is a train coming and I need to wait 5 minutes. I can't imagine leaving the car running for more than a couple of minutes.

I think if the car is turned on with a button and the key is replaced with a card that works at a distance, a feature that turns the car off when sitting idle for a while seems like a sensible thing. It's way more likely to be on by mistake than left running for a reason.

But would love to hear what kind of situations there are, I'm just unfamiliar with them.

[-] MagicShel@programming.dev 7 points 4 months ago

First obviously you don't want to let a car idle in an enclosed space. That's deadly to anyone in the car/garage but also potentially to folks inside the house if it is poorly ventilated.

I would definitely want the car running in 111 degree heat, even when stopped for a train or in a fast food line.

On the other hand, my vehicle, a Chevy Volt PHEV will turn itself off after about 4 hours. While this seems logical, a lot of people who camp inside it or use it to power their camp gear find it really inconvenient to have everything turn off at 1AM. So they recommend a hair tie around the gear shift button to keep the car from turning off.

So there are reasons both for having an auto-off feature and for not having it.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Leaving a two-year-old alone in a car for 30-60 minutes (he doesn't even know how long he was gone) ~~isn't~~ is criminal in and of itself regardless of the weather. On top of that, he knew it was in the triple digits and he's also not so stupid that he doesn't know that cars can break down. I don't know what to tell you. I just hope you aren't responsible for any toddlers.

Edit: Stupid typo.

[-] n2burns@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 months ago

Leaving a two-year-old alone in a car for 30-60 minutes (he doesn’t even know how long he was gone) isn’t criminal in and of itself regardless of the weather.

... ummmm, yes it is. Leaving a toddler unattended for an extended period of time is literally multiple crimes.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Oops. Meant is criminal.

[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 5 points 4 months ago

My mom's car, a mid-'10s Acura, will turn itself off if you leave with the key and get too far away from the car for too long without enabling valet mode.

[-] n2burns@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 months ago

Most modern cars have an auto-off feature. Some have a button to temporarily disable it.

[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Mine is one such car but it only turns itself off while in drive to save gas at stoplights and such. It doesn’t turn itself off when running while in park.

[-] stinkycheese@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

You're thinking of the auto start-stop feature. That is a different feature which aims to save gas while you press the brake pedal.

What others in the thread are talking about is a feature that will fully power off the vehicle after it has been sitting idle for a longer period of time. This includes turning off the engine and any of the electronics that normally continue to run during the auto start-stop.

[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Could be but it must have a very long timeout. My wife frequently opts to wait in the car while I go run an errand, but I’ve admittedly never timed it. 30min would definitely be on the high end though. If I ever made her wait 60 I’d probably be divorced.

[-] n2burns@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 months ago

My 2020 VW Golf definitely turns itself off when in park, but also has the button to disable it.

It will even require a manual restart if it's been parked long enough, which gets annoying when I spend a little too long dropping off/picking up something, and don't notice the message, put it in drive, see the message and try to start the car, but can't until I put it back in park. /rant

[-] ccunning@lemmy.world -2 points 4 months ago

I do hate that you can’t permanently disable the feature. Disabling it has (mostly) become a standard part of my startup procedure, but every once in a while I get in a hurry and forget. It makes me unreasonably irritated when I do and the car turns off at an intersection even though all I have to do is slightly lift my foot on the brake not even enough to release the brake. Then I get irritated at myself for forgetting and again for getting irritated so easily.

My car tracks how much idle time it has saved and after 3 years I’m still at something like 10 seconds…

[-] n2burns@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 months ago

IMHO, you shouldn't be able to permanently disable it. We are in a climate crisis.

[-] brygphilomena@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

It's fine for 95% of use cases, but sucks for the rest. But having anyone restrict my ability to make choices for what is best for me and my situation puts a black mark on my book.

[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Because it looks like it may have been a tesla and those are failure machines for idiots.

The car probably had "AI" face detection of vulnerable children in high heat conditions which then triggered a "surge subscription" notification on the app. "Upgrade to infant climate+ NOW, in the next 2 minutes, or your air conditioning will be temporarily shifted to heater until you decide to upgrade. Thank you."

this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
221 points (97.8% liked)

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