So Chevrolet is "running the vehicle through a car wash, placing various sized loose objects at different temperatures in the trunk, using a tow truck, and conducting electromagnetic evaluations, all designed to test the system's reaction to various conditions," says Bellopatrick.
"The horn chirping is the first sign that there's trouble in the trunk," he says, "and it's a different pattern of horn sounds that is easily distinguishable from the blaring anti-theft alarm that some people simply ignore."
The primary aim of this system is to help children who get locked in the trunk by mistake, Bellopatrick adds that "GM is aware that sometimes those who get locked in a trunk aren't children -- they're adults, victims of kidnapping and other potentially violent crimes."So the company consulted the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation about the logic of delaying the system's activation once a person is detected inside the trunk, and what time period was appropriate before activation.
The resulting delay "is intended to be long enough to address that type of scenario," Bellopatrick says, "but short enough to open the trunk in time to rescue a child or children that might be trapped inside."
GM says it has already sold approximately 3,000 child-resistant trunk retrofit kits available for most of its 1990 and newer family passenger cars engineered in North America.