Little boy invents device to stop babies dying in hot cars

Bishop Curry's neighbor died in the hot car, prompting him to invent a device that would sense if a child left alone in the vehicle.

According to Bishop's father, an engineer at Toyota also named Bishop Curry, his son is inquisitive about the overall view of an issue - from natural disasters to civil rights. He also loved to tinker, as reported by NBC News.

In 2017, after seeing a piece of news about a 6-month-old baby who passed away when left in the hot car, Bishop, 10, decided to invent something that would stop the tragic incident.

He told NBC News: "I was like, 'This would be my one-way shot to actually helping people."

Follow us on Twitter @amomama_usa.

Bishop, from McKinney, Texas, drew a mock-up of a device that would sense if a child is left alone in a car. Then, the device would alert parents' phones and the police while blowing cold air until help arrives.

Bishop called the genius device "Oasis." "It's like texting," he said. "But without emojis."

His father was quickly sold on the idea. He said: "My thought was, 'Why isn't this in stores now?'"

Toyota was very impressed by the 10-year-old's idea that it sent him and his father to Michigan for a conference.

For all the attention, Bishop will not soon forget the tragic incident that inspired his invention.

The 6-month-old baby girl, Fern, who lived nearby, died in an overheated car.

Bishop passed by her family's house all the time on the way to school. He has met with the baby girl's parents since the tragedy.

"They really supported me," he said. "They didn't want anything [like that] to happen to any other families."

According to Kids and Cars, an advocacy center that studies the issue, 804 children have died in hot cars in the United States since 1994.

They explained that approximately 55% of these cases, the parent was unaware the child was in the car.