VIDEO: A Mom Warns How Dangerous Back Seat Mirror May Be for a Child

We always like ensuring our kids are safe and sound, especially when they sit in a car. For a “sense of security,” we monitor them using mirrors. Yet, it turns out that they are not as safe as they look and really can cause much harm when we don’t expect it. Hopefully, one concerned mom shared a warning regarding all these things and, together with other parents, found a great solution.

Everything started when the mom of two Natausha Furlong, 30, opened the rear door of her car and saw some smoke. The woman was just about to put her daughter in her car seat, but now she had to find where the smoke was coming from first.

It was May evening, and the temperature was only 63 degrees (17 degrees Celsius), so the woman couldn’t figure out what exactly caused the fire. When suddenly, her 9-year-old son pointed at the car seat.

“We quickly realized that the smoke was coming from the car seat,” remembers Furlong. “I couldn’t imagine what could have caused the seat to smoke until my son pointed out that sunlight from a mirror was reflecting onto the car seat.”

She grabbed her phone and recorded the rays of light and the smoke that was just appearing to rise from a damaged cover. “Can you imagine if she [her daughter] was sitting in her seat?!” exclaimed the shocked woman in the clip.

Furlong quickly removed the mirror, and the seat stopped smoking. Yet, she decided to reach all the parents to warn them about such a danger to their kids. “I’m so glad that my daughter was not hurt and that I was able to record a video and share it with other parents to warn them of this risk,” she told to a newspaper.

“So many kids fall asleep in their car seats, and I really worry that they could be injured if the light reflected by a mirror is bright enough or hot enough,” she continued. And it’s so easy to miss it all when we park, enjoy the silence, have a coffee, and scroll on our phones.

“I recorded a video of the smoking car seat, so I could share what happened to me with other parents,” repeats Furlong. And she already has received an overwhelming amount of comments from parents who were completely stunned by the risks the mirrors happen to pose to children.

“I know I am spreading awareness and helping other parents,” she added that some comments helped her find a solution. “Based on what everyone suggested, I decided to order a camera for the back seat to use going forward.”

There are also tons of wonderful, helpful, and kind parents out there who share their experiences and keep warning us to make a life of our kids much safer too. In two words, they don’t let safety take the back seat and recommend us to do the same.