MILTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Police continue to investigate the death of an 18-month-old who was left in a hot car. First responders say they found the toddler unresponsive in the parking lot of a business on Centre Drive in Milton last week.

Police won’t confirm the child died after being left in a hot car, but sources tell us that is the case.

Experts say an overwhelming majority of child hot car deaths are tragic accidents and it was a loving, responsible parent that unknowingly left the child.

“This is something that nobody thinks can happen to them until it does,” said Amber Rollins with the nonprofit Kids and Car Safety, a national nonprofit that tracks these types of deaths.

Rollins says hot car deaths can happen to anyone, especially if you’re continuing a day-to-day routine.

“If you got a lot of things going on and you jump in your car, autopilot kicks in,” Rollins said.

She says parents and caretakers can prevent these tragedies by creating reminders to break through the autopilot mode. Rollins suggests parents put a large stuffed animal or another object in the front seat every time they put a child in the car.

“This is something you have to do every single time because it is that one time that you’re out of routine, you’re in a hurry that tragedies can happen. That’s the high-risk time. There’s always a change in the normal daily routine when these tragedies happen,” she said.

Checking the backseat every time you walk away from your car is another suggestion.

Kids and Car Safety advocates for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require manufacturers to put technology into cars that would warn people if there is a child in the backseat-- which many cars already have-- but they say NHTSA continues to delay the progress of putting those rules in place. The federal agency has offered other information on kids in hot cars. They say 25% of hot car deaths are when kids get into unlocked cars and can’t get back out. The agency has tracked nearly 1,000 hot car deaths since 1998 or about one child every 10 days.

There are still many unanswered questions in the Milton case. Police have not shared the identity of the child or the circumstances that led to the death.

Investigators at the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations which leads cases involving child deaths says they’re keeping details limited to protect the integrity of the investigation.

There have been no charges that have been made public.

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