US caregivers’ attitudes and risk perceptions towards pediatric vehicular heatstroke: A national survey

•We conducted a large survey of caregivers (n = 1,500; i.e., adults in charge of or responsible for a child, such as a parent, grandparent, or babysitter) to characterize their attitudes about behaviors and risk factors associated with children overheating in vehicles, as well as their thoughts about adopting risk mitigating technologies. We also characterized scenarios in which caregivers report they intentionally leave children unattended in vehicles and assessed caregiver awareness of national campaigns focused on children dying in hot cars.•Most, or 88%, of our respondents reported they do not leave their child(ren) alone in vehicles for any amount of time. Few, or 12%, believed they were at any risk for having a child overheat in a vehicle and about half had not heard of any awareness campaigns. Many caregivers held negative/judgmental views towards those caregivers to whom this event may happen.•The scenarios in which caregivers report they purposefully leave children alone in vehicles are similar to those described in fatal PVH events.•Our dissonant finding that caregivers view those who may be at risk for their children overheating in vehicles negatively while simultaneously viewing those who adopt risk mitigating technologies positively provides stakeholders with unique insight for future efforts. Specifically, messaging utilizing themes of positive caregiving might be more effective at increasing caregivers’ adoption of preventative behaviors or technologies than threat-based campaigns focused on communicating risk. In the US, child fatalities in hot cars [i.e., pediatric vehicular heatstroke (PVH)] occur on average once every 10 days. Despite national campaigns and recurring media attention, there has been little change in the rate of PVH deaths annually. The objective of this study was to characterize caregivers’ beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes related to PVH risk factors and potential mitigating technologies. We conducted a national survey of US caregivers to: (1) determine caregivers’ perceptions of PVH risk for children in their care, as well as their thoughts about adopting risk mitigating technologies, (2) characterize scenarios in which caregivers intentionally leave children unattended in vehicles, and (3) assess caregiver awareness of national PVH campaigns. We used a variety of question formats (select all that apply, multiple choice, free response). Data were analyzed data using descriptive statistics and caregiver responses related