According to a National Safety Council (NSC) report, an average of 37 children under the age of 15 die each year from being left alone in a hot vehicle. Of those heatstroke deaths, more than half came after the child was forgotten in the vehicle by a parent or caregiver. To help prevent children or pets from being left alone inside a car, in 2019 the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers announced plans to implement rear occupant safety alert systems as a standard feature by 2025. Like the name suggests, a rear occupant safety alert system emits an alarm after a driver turns off the vehicle to remind them to check their back seat before leaving.

The goal is to help prevent drivers from leaving the vehicle unattended with objects or passengers still in the rear seats. Several automakers already offer rear occupant safety alert technology, with many systems currently offered as standard equipment. We've selected eight SUVs with rear occupant safety alerts to help point you in the right direction and illustrate how this feature has become commonplace. Since many automakers already provide rear occupant safety alerts across a wide spectrum of vehicles, we limited the entries to one SUV model per manufacturer. We also gave priority to SUVs with no more than two recalls and five-star overall safety ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).