Hyundai USA to fit rear-seat warning as standard from 2022

South Korean multinational automotive manufacturer, Hyundai, declared on Wednesday that it would willingly standardize its rear-occupant alert system on most of its latest vehicles by 2022. Automakers have been regulating plenty of safety features in their cars over the last several years, and Hyundai seems to be participating in this event now. The company also has an even more capable version of this safety system, which will grow inclusion in the future. July 31 is National Heatstroke Prevention Day, and Hyundai picked up a great day to make this declaration.

Most original equipment manufacturers tend to concentrate on avoiding accidents with incorporated tech like pedestrian detection and automatic emergency braking, but numerous are also concerned about what could happen if a pet or child is negligently left in the back seat. Talking about this system, it's a much straightforward warning; however, digital instrument clusters feature a short description of the second row with the alert.

The basic variant of the rear-seat alert system recognizes if the rear door was opened or closed before starting the car and if that happens, it will prompt the driver through a warning in the gauge cluster to monitor the rear seats for anything that should not be left behind. It is more or less the same system that other car manufacturers use. In addition to this system, Hyundai also installs an ultrasonic sensor into the car to recognize the movement in the second row. If any action is detected after the vehicle is locked, it will honk the horn of the vehicle and use the Hyundai's Blue Link connected-car system to send a notification to the driver's phone. For now, this system is standard on the 2020 Santa Fe and Palisade SUVs.