It’s never safe to leave children alone in a parked vehicle, but it’s especially dangerous during the summer months!

When it’s hot outside, temperatures inside a vehicle can skyrocket in a matter of minutes, even if the vehicle is parked in the shade with the windows cracked. Windows collect light, trapping heat inside the vehicle. When it’s 85ºF outside, the temperature inside a car with the windows slightly cracked can reach 102º within ten minutes, and 120º in 30 minutes. If the vehicle is parked in direct sunlight on a hot, humid day, temperatures will climb faster - and higher!

A recent General Motors and Safe Kids Coalition study found that children are more vulnerable to heat because a child's body temperature increases three to five times faster than that of an adult. Children left in vehicles for even a short amount of time can suffer symptoms of heat stroke and exhaustion, including nausea, headache, confusion, shock or even coma-like conditions. And when the child becomes so hot they can no longer sweat, the kidneys begin to fail; muscles begin to break down; brain cells stop working, causing brain damage; and internal bleeding begins.

Our 4-legged friends are even more susceptible to overheating than humans! Dogs, for example, are designed to conserve heat. Panting and drinking water can help them cool off, but inside a parked vehicle, where they only have overheated air to breathe, they can suffer brain and organ damage in as little as 15 minutes. Dogs with short noses, puppies, seniors or pets with weight, respiratory, cardiovascular or other health problems, are especially susceptible to the dangers of overheating.
So unless you know for sure you're not going to be stopping somewhere that would require leaving your pets alone in the vehicle, leave them at home. Even if you only plan to stop for a minute or two, an unexpected delay could put them at risk for heatstroke, brain damage or death. And it simply isn’t worth the risk.

Heatstroke in Dogs: Lifesaving Tips

• Watch for symptoms such as restlessness, excessive thirst, glazed eyes, heavy panting, lethargy, lack of appetite, fever, dizziness, dark tongue, profuse salivation, rapid heartbeat, vomiting, lack of coordination or unconsciousness.
• If your dog shows any of these symptoms, get her or him into the shade or an air-conditioned area as quickly as possible.
• Immediately begin steps to gradually lower the animal’s body temperature by applying ice packs or cold towels to the head, neck and chest or immersing the dog in lukewarm or cool (but not cold) water, and giving the animal small amounts of cool water to drink or ice cubes to lick.
• Once you have successfully lowered the body temperature, take the animal directly to a veterinarian.