NASHVILLE: Nissan has introduced the first-of-its-kind Rear Door Alert technology to help remind drivers to check their rear seats.
This feature is especially useful for parents ferrying children or babies in their rear seats.can help remind customers of anything that may be forgotten in the rear seat. It can also help remind drivers of anything that may be forgotten in the rear seat.
The idea was proposed by two Nissan engineers, who are also mothers. The new system uses door sequence logic, centre instrument panel message display and industry-first multiple horn honks to help remind drivers to check the rear seat after the vehicle is parked
The feature will be deployed first in the new three-row Pathfinder SUV when it goes on sale in the United States next month.
The technology was the brainchild of Elsa Foley, an industrial engineer and mother of two young children, and Marlene Mendoza, a mechanical engineer and mother of three.
Rear Door Alert monitors the rear door switches to detect their open/closed status prior to and after a trip. If the system detects that a rear door was opened/closed prior to a trip, but then was not re-opened again after the trip was completed, given the vehicle was put in park and the ignition cycled off, the system responds with a series of notifications, starting with a display in the instrument panel and progressing to subtle but distinctive chirps of the horn.
Because there are so many scenarios in which a driver might open a rear door — everything from throwing in a gym bag to cleaning the car — the system is configurable and can be turned off temporarily or permanently through prompts in the cluster display.
"The idea is if you open a rear door, whether to put a child or a package in the rear seat, the vehicle will help alert you when you get to your destination that you may want to check the rear seat," said Mendoza.
"We've built in enough time that you don't have to rush, but if you don't open the rear door again when you get out of the vehicle, we want you to think for a moment about what you may have put in the back seat."
