Car Conveniences Keep Rolling Out

There never seems to be an end to the invention of products that make car travel safer and more pleasurable. The following items may be available in area stores. Prices do not include shipping.

Peek-a-baby: When you’re driving, turning around to see how your baby is doing in the back seat is dangerous. The Elmo Peek-a-View back-seat mirror lets the driver see a rear-facing baby’s face by looking into the rearview mirror. Housed in a red felt Elmo Sesame Street character, the 5-by-3-inch wide-angle convex mirror attaches to the rear seat back with Velcro strips or a safety pin, facing baby but out of his reach. The acrylic mirror is shatterproof.

Elmo Peek-a-View (item 72613) back-seat mirror is $14.95. For information, contact Blue Ridge International Products Co.; telephone (800) 222-9056, Internet https://www.safefit.com.

Key of love: Wherever you take your keys, you also can take whoever holds the key to your heart--at least her image and voice. The Magic Moments recordable key chain is a flip-open plastic frame with room for a 13/4-by-21/8-inch photo on one side and a 10-second recording device on the other. The device operates on four replaceable button cell batteries (included).

Recordable Photo Key Chain is $15 from Mega Sound; tel. (800) 662-5372, https://www.mega-sound.com.

Learning the lingo: Too busy to attend language classes but want a jump on the vernacular of your next destination? Rush Hour is Berlitz’s new foreign language program for car commuters--or anyone with a CD or cassette player and limited time. Available in Spanish, French, German and Italian, the package of two CDs or tapes, each 60 minutes, teaches conversation essentials. A 120-page listener’s guide is included for follow-ups. Bouncy music, a backbeat, short sections (on menu items, feelings, asking directions) and lessons put to song take some of the monotony out of learning the basics.

Berlitz Rush Hour language programs in Spanish, French, Italian and German are $21.95 for CDs, $19.95 for cassette tapes. For information, contact Berlitz, tel. (800) 923-7548, https://www.berlitz.com.

The big time: Here’s a handy glove compartment item. Zelco, a maker of innovative portable lighting products, has come out with a tiny analog, quartz-movement alarm clock with a swivel-out lighted magnifying glass. The magnifier can be used to light up and enlarge the numbers on the clock, maps, menus, medicine bottles or other items. The clock has a four-step, 75-decibel crescendo alarm and includes a snooze function. When closed, the egg-shaped unit measures 21/2 by 13/4 by 11/4 inches and slips into a carry pouch. The clock operates on one alkaline button cell battery, the light on one five-year lithium button cell battery.

OptiClock is $30 from Zelco Industries; tel. (800) 431-2486, https://www.zelco.com.

Oops protector: Children love anything messy--food, crayons--in the car. Kel-Gar’s large seat protector is a 24-by-58-inch bright vinyl mat that slips under the car seat. The mat has cutouts for the seat belt and a storage pocket. It is machine washable.

Child’s Seat Protector With Pocket (item 12318) is $7.99. For information, contact Kel-Gar; tel. (800) 388-1848, https://www.kelgar.com.