Kids Dying at Record Pace in Hot, Locked Cars

June 25, 2010— -- As temperatures across the country rise, so to have the number deaths of children left or trapped inside sweltering automobiles.

Eighteen children have died across the country since the beginning of the year, eight of them in just the past 12 days, a record setting number of deaths for the first six months of the year since such data began being collected in 1998.

Since 1998, 463 children have died of overheating or hyperthermia in cars in the United States, the majority of whom were accidently left behind by caregivers.

This year's deaths, however, have been marked by an increased number of unattended children who became trapped while playing inside a hot car, said Jan Null, a meteorologist at San Francisco State University who tracks hot car deaths.

"These are epidemic numbers. Unlike a lot of epidemics, every one of these deaths is preventable," Null told ABCNews.com. "There is no reason children have to die this way."

According to Null's data, 33 children died last year in hot cars, slightly below the annual average of 37 children, but it is not yet known if this year will be any worse than years past.

Less than one week since the official start of summer, this June is one of the deadliest on record. Hot car deaths typically spike in July, according to Null. With a week left in June, the number of deaths has topped the previous high of 17 fatalities from January to June 2009.

Young children are particularly susceptible to hyperthermia, said Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

"The inside of a car on a hot day heats up incredibly high and quickly," he said. "In a short time, temperatures of 120 to 140 degrees can occur."

The heat overwhelms a child's ability to regulate his core temperature and the child quickly loses consciousness, Smith said.

"When a kid is in a hot car, he is gaining heat very quickly and there is no way to get that heat out of their bodies. The mechanisms for compensating are overwhelmed and their core temperature rises. The child becomes unconscious and brain damage occurs. A kid left even for a half hour can become unconscious and unresponsive," he said.