Glenfield car death: NRMA reveals grim new details after a child was found dead in a hot car in Sydney shops

Road safety authorities have announced the amazing number of children rescued from hot cars last month after the tragic death of a boy left in a hot car in Sydney.

The three-year-old boy was found unresponsive in a car on the Railway Pde in Glenfield around 3pm on Thursday.

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It is understood that the child’s father smashed the rear window of the car in a desperate attempt to get to his son.

He then attempted to revive him until paramedics arrived, but the boy could not be saved and died at the scene.

The number of rescues of children in hot cars last month was the highest in five years, according to the NRMA.

The grim new statistic prompted an urgent call for parents to be vigilant with their children this summer to prevent more deaths.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury announced on Friday that the agency had rescued 213 children from hot cars across NSW and the ACT in January 2023.

The number of rescues jumps to 501 when unsupervised pets are included.

“The temperature inside a vehicle can double in minutes from the outside,” Khoury told AAP.

“In a very short time, a child can become dehydrated. This can lead to organ failure and the consequences can be catastrophic.”

Meanwhile, the Glenfield community in south-west Sydney is still reeling from Thursday afternoon’s tragic events.

7NEWS understands the boy’s father, who was visibly distraught at the scene, told police he forgot his son was in the car when he parked it and returned to the family home around the corner on Thursday morning.

The father was taken to Campbelltown Police Station for questioning but was released Friday without charge.

“A crime scene has been established and an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident is ongoing,” police said.

Counseling is offered to rescue workers.

A small homage with flowers and candles is now growing at the scene of the crime.

Temperatures in Glenfield rose to 31C by 2.50pm and hovered above 30C for much of Thursday afternoon, according to forecaster Weatherzone.

“No safe way”

Kidsafe NSW’s Christine Erskine told Sunrise there is never a “safe way to leave anyone in a car”.

“A car can heat up very quickly and, say, the outside temperature is 30C… within 8-15 minutes it can be 60-70C in that car, so that’s very fast, very fast and gets very high “, she said .

According to Erskine, nearly 5,000 incidents were reported last year.

“There’s been like 5,000 near misses where people have accidentally left their kids in the car, so it happens, and it probably has happened to a lot of us over the years,” she said.

“There is no safe way to ever leave someone in a car.

“When you travel, children should be with you. Sometimes you forget things… life is very hectic and it’s a terrible tragedy.”

Meanwhile, the road safety organization NRMA previously stressed the importance of never leaving a child or pet in a car.

It states that if a child or pet is trapped inside, the temperature inside a hot car can reach almost twice the outside temperature and cause serious injury or death within a short period of time.

The association, responding to a decade-long streak of rescues of children and pets from hot cars over the past year, said most of the 4,265 incidents were accidental.

“It’s actually quite dangerous, it doesn’t have to be a really hot day for temperatures to rise in a car,” NRMA road safety expert Dimitra Vlahomitros said at the time.

“On a 20°C day, the temperature inside a car can double, which can be devastating.

“Children can become dehydrated very quickly, and it’s not only very distressing for the child, but also for the parents.”

– With Ashlea Hansen