As our infant was getting close to outgrowing the car seat from his Chicco Bravo LE Travel System, we did some deep-diving research on the next best car seat for our baby. One aspect of our newest Evenflo Revolve360 Extend all-in-one rotational car seat that made this car seat the clear winner was the integrated SensorSafe technology. After using SensorSafe for three months, we feel much more confident about our baby’s car seat safety.
In this era, scrolling on our phones and stressful daily lives can easily distract some of us from remembering that our children are in the back seat. Infant hot-car deaths are still on the rise.
In this SensorSafe review, I’ll explain how the technology works, what alerts it sends, and whether it’s worth it for new parents.
What is SensorSafe?
SensorSafe is the newest car seat sensor alert system that Cybex and Evenflo integrate in select car seats. SensorSafe places the sensor inside the chest buckle of the harness system. These sensors are not interchangeable between car seats or other car seat brands. The sensor housing cannot detach from the original product.
SensorSafe’s primary alert system delivers alarms via the Evenflo or Cybex smartphone app. The technology senses certain conditions that could be harmful to your child. This prompts a notification alert to be sent to your smartphone.
How SensorSafe Works
SensorSafe primarily detects four main conditions that could potentially create a dangerous situation for your baby or child.
1. Chest Clip Unbuckled
SensorSafe sends a notification if it detects that your child’s chest clip unbuckles. This condition sends an alert regardless of if your car is moving or stationary. If your sensor is working correctly, you will actually get a notification each time you unbuckle their car seat to remove them from the car.
2. Extreme Temperatures
SensorSafe alerts you if the sensor technology detects an extreme temperature, either cold or hot, in conjunction with a buckled chest clip. SensorSafe considers this a “critical alert.” The temperature range is factory-set to alert the caregiver if the temperature reaches above 95°F or falls below 45°F. You cannot adjust these temperature thresholds to allow for more leniency with the temperature range.
You will not receive a notification of extreme temperatures if you leave your child’s chest clip unbuckled. SensorSafe assumes that if the chest clip is unbuckled, then there’s not a child in the car to be concerned about.
3. Child Seated for Too Long
SensorSafe will alert you if it detects that the chest clip has stayed buckled for an extended period of time. The threshold for this notification is factory-set to 2 hours. So, if your chest clip stays buckled for 2 hours straight, then it prompts an alert.
This may seem like the least-concerning of the alerts so far. There can actually be great implications when leaving a child in a car seat for more than 2 hours. Such implications include positional asphyxia, reduced blood circulation, discomfort, and overheating. Consider taking a break every 2 hours to change your child’s diaper and assess their overall well-being.
Caregivers may need to take breaks more often (every 30-60 minutes) for newborns or infants without adequate head or neck support.
4. Child Left Unattended
SensorSafe will alert you if it senses that a child is accidentally left buckled in a car. SensorSafe also considers this a “critical alert.” The conditions for this alert are met if the chest clip is buckled while the caregiver’s phone’s bluetooth signal becomes out of range of the car seat. To stop this alert, either open the app to snooze the alert, or come back into range and unbuckle the chest clip.
This alert is the most “severe” alert. SensorSafe has an extra caution net to prevent accidentally ignoring this imperative notification.
1st – As soon as the conditions have been met (buckled chest clip and bluetooth out of range), SensorSafe immediately sends a notification to only you.
2nd – After 2 minutes of not responding to the alert, SensorSafe sends another notification to only you.
3rd – After 3 total minutes of not responding to the alert, SensorSafe sends another notification to you in addition to sending a notification to family members who you have allowed to receive alerts. Included in the notification will also be the location of the car seat in addition to the description of the car that you entered in the app.
Additional SensorSafe Features
In addition to sending you alerts above, SensorSafe has other capabilities that make this purchase as functional as possible.
Include Other Family Members
As briefly mentioned above, you can add unlimited family members to your notification list in the event that you left your child in the car. In our case scenario, I’ve had my husband download the app in order to receive a notification if I have not responded to a reminder within 3 minutes.
The only alert that SensorSafe sends to family members is when the technology suspects that a child is in a car. Family members will not be notified if the chest clip unbuckles, during extreme temperatures, or if the child has been seated for too long.
Alerts Override Do Not Disturb
In the event that a “critical alert” takes place (extreme temperatures or child left in car), SensorSafe overrides any Do Not Disturb settings or silent modes to ensure the safety of the child is the top priority.
Supports Multiple Car Seats
Up to seven different car seats can connect to the app at any given time.(Hello, passenger van!) This is great for families with multiple kiddos and/or families that choose to have a car seat for each vehicle.
Cons to SensorSafe
As always, I try to be transparent with any product that I stand behind. Here are a couple of cons that I have noticed thus far with our SensorSafe device.
Must Keep App Running in Background
This was something that I had to remind myself of since I keep my background as decluttered as possible. In addition to allowing notifications, allowing location, and turning on Bluetooth, you must keep the app running in the background of your smartphone in order to receive alerts.
Use of a Button Battery
Once we had our baby, I got rid of anything with a button battery if possible. I’m aware of the deadly risks associated with children swallowing button batteries. I wanted to mitigate this risk as much as possible.
A few months after use, I realized that the SensorSafe technology utilizes a button battery in the chest clip. While this wouldn’t necessarily change my mind about getting the car seat, I would be lying if I said that I wouldn’t be worried about any spare button batteries in my home. I think the daily benefits of the SensorSafe technology outweighs the slim chance of any button battery incidents. I will be extremely cautious about button battery storage and disposal.
Statistics about Hot Car Deaths in Children
On average, 37 children under the age of 15 die each year in the US from pediatric vehicular heatstroke.
Emergency department treat thousands of children for heat-related vehicle injuries every year. Hospitals track these injuries more loosely than deaths.
A child’s body heats up 3 to 5 times faster than an adult’s, making children very prone and less resistant to heat-related injuries.
The inside of a vehicle can heat up by 20°F in just 10 minutes. By 30 minutes, a car can heat up by 40°F. This is why time matters.
Rolling down a window does not significantly slow down the heating rate.
Is SensorSafe Worth It?
After using SensorSafe technology for several months, we truly feel that it adds an extra layer of safety and peace of mind for parents. While no technology can replace attentive caregiving, the real-time alerts and hot car prevention features make SensorSafe a valuable addition to our child’s car seat.
SensorSafe helps reduce risks that many exhausted and distracted parents worry about daily. Although SensorSafe features usually add to the cost upfront, the added safety benefits easily outweigh the inconveniences for our family.
Interested in other car must-haves to make life easier with a baby? Check out these essentials for the car!