A concerned mom shared a warning worth reflecting on, regarding mirrors and child car seats.
In a video she posted on social media, Canadian mom Natausha Furlong, 30, said she opened the rear door of her car and saw smoke. The mom of two from Victoria, B.C., was about to put her daughter in her car seat but had to find the source of the smoke first.
Furlong was parked outside her mother-in-law’s house that evening in May and the temperature was only 63 degrees (17 degrees Celsius), so she wondered what could have caused the fire.
Her 9-year-old son figured it out.
“We quickly realized that the smoke was coming from the car seat,” she told The Epoch Times. “I couldn’t imagine what could have caused the seat to smoke until my son pointed out that sunlight from a mirror facing the car seat was reflecting onto the car seat.”
With her phone, Furlong recorded the rays of light reflecting onto the car seat with smoke appearing to rise from a damaged portion of the seat cover.
“What the heck!” she is heard exclaiming in the clip. “Can you imagine if she was sitting in her seat?!
“It’s legit smoking!”
When Furlong removed the mirror, the seat stopped smoking, she told the newspaper.
Afterward, the car seat’s manufacturer, Diono, contacted her directly and offered to replace the car seat cover, she said. Meanwhile, the maker of the mirror, Evenflo, also reached out, saying they would send her a reimbursement check.
Furlong shared the email correspondences between herself and the mirror company with The Epoch Times as proof of the compensation.
“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 told the newspaper. “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.
“It takes a village and a huge support system to raise kids, and I am glad I could be part of supporting other parents and keeping their kids safe.”
Furlong’s 18-month-old daughter had reflux as a newborn and the mirror had been a “lifesaver” for the mom, allowing her to check if she was breathing.
“That’s what the mirrors are for,” she said. “As moms know, kids fall asleep in the car and us moms park, enjoy the silence, have a coffee, and scroll on our phones.”
She added that she has received an “overwhelming amount of comments” from parents who were “stunned” and unaware of the risks the mirrors pose.
But she also received a “ton of rude comments,” though they don’t bother her.
“I know I am spreading awareness and helping other parents,” she said, adding that some have even helped her find a solution. “Based on what everyone suggested, I decided to order a camera for the back seat to use going forward.”
