A segment on NBC's Nightly News with Lester Holt on Wednesday, June 28 was an update about an 11-year-year inventor of a device to help prevent leaving children in Hot Cars. McKinney, Texas native Bishop Curry IV is still in elementary school, but he has done something seasoned engineers haven't done. The fifth grader has invented a device that could save lives of children who are accidentally left in hot cars.

Boy's invention

The young boy says it saddens him to hear about babies dying in a hot car. He was really touched when a six-month-old baby died in a van on a 91-degree day.

The tragedy happened down the street from him in his neighborhood a year ago. The baby’s father was charged with manslaughter in the child's death. Bishop was inspired to invent something to help save the lives of children left in vehicles.

Since then, the boy has designed a small box that will be latched on a child's car seat that sends out cool air when its surroundings become hot. The box will detect when the vehicle has stopped and a child is left in the back. It has an antenna that will alert parents. The device will notify the police and emergency services if parents don't respond. The good part about this device is that it will keep the baby cool until help arrives.

The young inventor has a provisional patent and a model of his invention he calls Oasis.

He has raised close to $36,000 of his goal of $20,000 through his GoFundMe campaign. The money will help with funding for prototypes and manufacturing. He already has manufacturers lined up to make the device.

Statistics of deaths

Since 1998, at least 712 children have died after they were left in vehicles in the United States, according to reports.

Seven children in the United Kingdom are rescued from locked cars every day. The number of children dying in cars is much lower than in the United States because temperatures are milder there. A seven-month-old baby girl was found dead inside a car in Tipperary, Ireland on May 26, according to Sky News. Her father accidentally left the baby in the car instead of dropping her off at a daycare facility.

The child was discovered when her father returned to his car at lunchtime. She was airlifted to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Bishop believes his invention can prevent other deaths. The boy's father is an engineer working at Toyota's Plano headquarters. He and his son introduced the device at a recent auto-safety conference where it was well received by officials. The boy's patent is expected to be approved this year. His goal is to have the device on the market in 2018.
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