Mom creates gadget to protect kids dying in hot cars

An Arizona mother might have just saved the lives of children across the country.

Marcie Miller, 34, along with her colleagues at Intel, invented a device that prevents parents from leaving their children in hot cars, Today reports.

It’s called the Intel Smart Clip, which is a gadget that attaches to a child’s car seat and will warn parents if they have left their child behind in the car. The device is controlled through an app on the parent’s smartphone and it will sound an alarm if it detects that their child is strapped in the car seat while they are walking away.

This year alone, 18 children in the United States have died of heat stroke in cars, and more than half of children who die “are simply left behind by a caregiver who had forgotten they are in the backseat,” Today reports.

Miller, who has a 16-month-old daughter, said she “has heard the stories all too often” about children dying in scorching hot cars. Her hometown in Chandler, Ariz. reaches 111 degrees in the summertime.

"Unfortunately, every year — especially growing up in Arizona — you hear of these tragedies because it gets so hot, so quickly,” Miller said to Today.

Intel said the Smart Clip will be on the shelves for the holiday season for under $50, Today reports.