DETROIT MOTOR SHOW: GM's safety first

A succession of heart-breaking letters crossing the desk of General Motors global product development chief Mark Reuss has led to one of the simplest and most cost-effective new safety features that debuted at this week's Detroit motor show.

Developed only in the last few months before its introduction with the new-generation GMC Acadia seven-seat SUV on Tuesday morning Detroit time, the reminder prompts the driver to check in the back-seat before locking up and leaving the vehicle.

It is primarily designed to stop parents accidentally leaving their children in the car, but can also act as prompt to remember pets or even luggage.

"Too many children are inadvertently left behind in vehicles, often with tragic results," the former Holden boss told the media at the Acadia reveal.

"It's hard to fathom but it does happen, leading to dozens of fatal heat strokes in children every year in this country.

"More than half the time it is because they were forgotten in the vehicle."

Reuss confirmed he had become personally motivated to do something late in the Acadia's development cycle about the issue because of the tragic stories he was reading.

"I get a lot of letters from a lot of different people and some of those letters are … they hit you," he said.

"So we said 'jeez we can do something here. So let's do something fast and let's do it'.

"It's not going to prevent everything but as a reminder, boy it's pretty powerful because you are looking at it as you turn the car off and that's a big deal.

"Even one life. We save one life it is totally worth it," the father of three said.

"When you sit and watch those statistics in summer it's heart wrenching."

The rear-seat reminder remembers whether the rear door was opened before the driver entered the vehicle and then issues a reminder on exit to check the back seats before walking away.

The system does not detect the presence of a child in the back seat, but it provides a simple extra reminder for the driver to look in the rear seat on the way out of the vehicle, regardless of what may be back there.

Reuss hinted that there were further developments in this area, potentially using motion detectors to warn of children left in the car.

"There is more to come," Reuss said. "We have some pretty sophisticated anti-theft motion detectors in here."

GM is claiming the rear seat reminder as an industry first and it is standard equipment on all Acadias.

But Reuss said the feature would spread beyond the Acadia and GMC into other General Motors brands.

"The premium-ness of GMC makes it a great place to put it first shot. This is a heavily familied car, in fact my family uses this vehicle,

"So it is an ideal place to launch it, but safety is not exclusive to one brand within GM. As a core value of the company we are going to lead in safety.

"We are committed to safety leadership and these are the sorts of things we talk a lot about and do something about because of the statistics on how many people leave children behind, unintentionally," Reuss added.

"It's unfortunate but it does happen. But this reminder gives the driver a reminder of whether it's a child or a pet or even a cargo that is precious."