Baby rescued from car in Elda in 40+ degrees weather

An 11-month-old baby was rescued after being trapped in a car during 40+ degrees weather in Elda; one of many cases of modern vehicles backfiring. 

Baby rescued from a heated car in Elda

The incident occurred on August 7 at 6pm at Avenida de Ronda in Elda, as a woman called 112 to help her rescue her 11-month-old baby from a car, which was shut due to an automatic system. Municipal sources reported that as the child’s mother got out of her vehicle, the car´s locking system immediately activated and blocked all doors from being opened.

The heat was over 40 degrees Celsius and the baby was sweating profusely as the mother´s efforts to rescue her child were powerless against the automatic system. The woman then called the emergency services which dispatched the Fire Department of Elda, yet a patrol of the Local Police was nearby and had also received the alert. The Local Police officers immediately arrived at the scene. 

With no results from trying to open the doors, the officers performed a controlled break of a car window. They accessed the door mechanism from inside, rescuing the baby, who was fortunately unharmed and returned to the mother. The Local Police reported that they met a similar case in 2021 when they rescued two siblings aged two and four who were trapped in a vehicle with an activated automatic alarm in 2021.

Baby rescued from a locked car; one of too many cases

A similar case was also reported overseas in Canada, where an infant and a toddler were rescued from a car in 2015 during a summer heatwave, which again resulted in broken windows.

The CAA Manitoba roadside service company revealed that they receive at least 10,000 calls annually from people who have locked their cars in vehicles, with calls about pets and children being trapped inside the vehicles being reported several times a week. “We drop everything to get to these calls because we know, especially in this kind of heat, it´s so important that we get to them as quick as possible,” said CAA spokesperson Angele Young.

Baby in need of rescue; how to prevent car traps

With the rise in state-of-the-art vehicles, the number of cars that lock automatically with the keys inside is increasing and becoming a cause of concern. Phil Edmonston, author of the Lemon-Aid series of guides for car buyers spoke about the widespread of these dangerous cases; “The door locks are so sophisticated and so complicated that these kinds of things are going to occur more and more.” 

The CAA informed that to prevent doors from self-locking, the driver should ask a mechanic to override the factory settings; “Some may have a setting when your keys are in the vehicle and the car won´t lock at all.” Moreover, they advised; “The best situation is just always have them (car keys) on you; never trust them to leave them in your vehicle, whether your car is running or not.”