class project ... plz help! (long)

Originally posted by XdiscontensionX
ok, for one of my classes we have to think of a product idea and market it to the professor. i chose to "create" a heat-activated safety device for a car, after hearing about the 2 children in the midwest dying in a car while thier mother was getting her hair done.

the concept: there would be a thermal sensor in the car and upon reaching a certain temperature, a secondary system would engage... an infrared camera in the car would scan for variations in temperature, and if it found something that resembled a human or pet, the windows would be lowered an inch or two, a ventilation fan would engage, and an alarm would sound. i was also thinking that this could be incorporated into a system such as onstar, so that the location could be pin-pointed and authorities could be notified.

my questions to you:
is there anything even remotely similar to this on the market already, that i could use as a foundation for my ficticious product?

do you have any idea what something like this might cost to build and have installed?

can anyone give me any kind of diagrams or other related information that would confuse and impress my professor?

i know it's a bit ridiculous, but i thought it would be a good project. luckily i don't actually have to make a working model or anything (and it doesn't have to be very technical considering it's a business class)... it's all in theory. well, theory and lots of B.S.

i just thought i'd pick your brains for any ideas. thanks!

In regard to something similar to onstar, Mercedes has that thing where if you need roadside assistance and you press the button, the Mercedes people will come. There's also that lojack security thing. Remember the level sensors that you were telling me about to protect my rims? Maybe you could use something like to detect the movement. You know how Volkswagons have the remote control windows? Maybe you could incorporate the technological specifics of how those operate into the whole process of when the infrared camera detects the high temperature or people. If you thought of this already, my bad. You know what's sad? That some lady actually locked her kids in the car and they died and that's what gave you inspiration for this assignment.