Nissan Adds Rear Seat Alerting Tech

Nissan is rolling out a rear-seat alerting system that uses the vehicle's horn to remind drivers to check the rear seat after parking their vehicle, Nissan has announced.

Nissan's Rear Door Alert will be standard equipment on eight nameplates, including its Rogue and next-generation Altima for the 2019 model year. Nissan plans to offer the technolgy on all of its four-door vehicles by 2022. Nissan's 2018 Pathfinder was the first vehicle to offer it as standard equipment.

The technology was developed by to mothers and Nissan engineers, Marlene Mendoza and Elsa Foley, to reduce potential heatstroke incidents. Mendoza came up with the idea after she left a pan of lasagna in her vehicle overnight.

The sensor-based system monitors when the rear door is opened and closed before and after the vehicle is in motion. It displays a notifcation in the instrument panel and also uses chirps of the horn. It can be turned off through a menu in the instrument cluster.