Terry Bartley sits in a hot car with the windows rolled up … and records himself.

“I wanna know how it feels to be out in the car and sitting in the back seat, strapped into a car seat with the windows up and doors probably locked. … I can barely breathe out here.”

He wants others to join him in the “hot car challenge” to raise awareness about the dangers of leaving children in vehicles under a broiling sun. Bartley, a North Carolina father of three, was motivated by the death of 22-month-old Cooper Harris and similarly horrific stories about other children.

But even though Bartley and others are well-intentioned, do their videos make a difference? Or are they just dangerous?

“What starts out as a way to make a dramatic point about something we are very concerned about and does it in a very visually powerful way can also backfire,” said Nadine Kaslow, a psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at Emory University.

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Members of the conversion crew take a break as the main scoreboard is lowered to the floor to be worked on as the arena gets ready for the next concert at State Farm Arena, Thursday, October 2, 2025, in Atlanta. The crew was working on creating a stage for the Friday, Oct. 3 Maxwell concert. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com