With summer days and trips, we also hear a lot more cases of children and animals getting seriously hurt or even dying after being left in cars. To bring awareness to the dangers of a hot summer day, Ford created an interesting video with the help of ice sculptures and its Weather Factory in Cologne.
The company is able to reproduce various weather conditions in this facility. For this experiment, Ford placed a Focus SW in what would be a 35ºC (95ºF) morning. The automaker also placed a baby ice sculpture inside the vehicle and one representing a dog.
Ford also invited physicians and veterinarians to discuss the dangers of having children and animals left inside a car on hot days. Adrianna Lopes, a family doctor, said that children overheat much faster than adults – three to five times faster. If that happens, they can lose conscience, have convulsions, and getting into a coma. When you consider that a car can get 1ºC hotter inside than outside every minute, that can be a lethal combination.
When it comes to pets, Laura Morrison was the person in charge of warning about hot day dangers. According to the veterinary surgeon of RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), dogs regulate their body temperatures by panting. In enclosed spaces, that may increase air humidity levels and raise the temperature even more. When their body organs reach a specific temperature, they may start shutting down.
Ford’s Weather Factory aims to ensure the company’s vehicles will not present problems when exposed to high or low temperatures for extended periods. In other words, it is all about verifying if parts and components resist these temperature variations and extremes. Still, the facility was handy in presenting the effects of summer days in ice children and dogs.
It is a pity Ford did not disclose how long it took for the ice sculptures to melt. In fact, Ford did not show them completely melting, which would probably be hard to see, especially for people that really identified the sculptures with real living beings.
The recipe for avoiding issues is easy: just don’t leave children and animals in closed cars under any circumstances. When you leave the car, bring them with you. As simple as this guideline is, newspapers show people have issues following it. Perhaps the metaphor of melting children and dogs helps to shock them enough for that to finally happen. Summer is already here.
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