Tesla has officially added ‘Child Left Alone’ detection to some of its newest vehicles. On cars equipped with a cabin radar, Tesla update 2025.14.12 adds the ability for the vehicle to warn the driver if a child has been left alone in the vehicle.
Cabin Radar
Tesla began equipping its vehicles with cabin radars several years ago, but it has only recently activated the hardware in update 2025.2.6. The cabin radar is being used for more than child detection. In the 2025.2 update, it was initially used to detect occupancy in the front seats, removing the need for separate seat sensors.
Tesla is now leveraging it also to detect occupancy in the rear seats. However, it does much more than just detect whether there’s someone sitting in the back seats of your vehicle.
What It Does
Tesla has stated before that the cabin radar will be able to detect the size of individuals. In addition to detecting the size, it’ll also be able to detect the child's heart rate and breathing.
According to the release notes, if the vehicle detects that a child has been left alone, the vehicle will flash its lights and play an alert, presumably through the external PWS speaker. It will also send a notification to your phone through the Tesla app.
We expect this to be the first iteration of this feature, as Tesla has previously said that the vehicle will also automatically enable its climate system and call emergency services if the driver doesn’t respond.
However, it seems like those features will come later, as Tesla’s release notes in this 2025.14.12 update state:
If an unattended child is detected, the vehicle will flash the exterior indicator lights, play an alert tone, and send a notification to your Tesla app. This will repeat at regular intervals until you return to your vehicle. Cabin data is processed locally and is not transmitted to Tesla.
This feature is enabled by default. To disable, go to Controls > Safety > Child Left Alone Detection.
Supported Models
This feature requires the vehicle to have a cabin radar, which Tesla has included for several years now. However, it’s not available on all models. Tesla is initially only supporting the 2024+ Model 3 initially, but it’ll be available on other supported models in the future.
While other vehicles also include a cabin radar, the part number differs between models, so it’s not clear which models will end up receiving this feature. Right now, 2024+ Model 3s are receiving the feature, and the new Model Y and Cybertruck also feature the same cabin radar and are expected to receive this upgrade later.
However, it’s a bit more uncertain for the 2021+ Model S and Model X, which utilize a different cabin radar.
You can check whether your car has a cabin radar in your vehicle through Service Mode.
Regions
The feature is currently only rolling out to new Model 3s in Europe, but Tesla has already stated that other regions will follow.
Calling Emergency Services
Tesla has stated that the vehicle will automatically call emergency services if it detects a child in the car and the driver fails to respond to alerts. While this capability doesn’t appear to be included in this specific update, it may not be available in North America at all, as these vehicles don’t have eCall capabilities.
While Tesla added the ability for the vehicle to call 911 over Bluetooth in the event of a crash, it’s unlikely that a phone would be connected via Bluetooth in this situation.
We hope that Tesla can contact emergency services through an alternative method or add eCall capabilities to vehicles in North America.
Tesla is also expected to add support for Smart Child Seats in a future update.
