Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
However, it screams of negligence. I understand how an older couple may make the mistake of failing to turn off the car. But how would it not trigger the carbon monoxide detector in the garage, then in the room near the garage, then hallway, then the room they are in? My alarms and my phones would all be going off (as would anyone who lived in the house -- including the wife's phone, in this case). All well before it filled up the house.
I've never heard of a CO detector in the garage. You would be setting it off all the time. Code normally requires there be two CO detectors inside the house. And if your house is newer, all the detectors are interconnected, so if one goes off, they all go off.
Obviously they probably didn't have any, if for example you have all electric house really no need for one other than perhaps the garage.
CO detectors are still required by code. CO from a car in the garage or a generator running during a power outage are just two reasons why. There is no code requirement for a CO detector in the garage because it's too easy to set them off there.
Was the car a hybrid? I know somebody who left a Prius running all night in the driveway. I think it was on battery mode when it was left and the engine was off temporarily, but it kicks back on now and then.
And this is different from leaving a car running with a key... how?
Somehow it is. My son did the same thing with his first keyless car. He never admitted it but it might have run for hours, if not overnight. I think we take automation one step too far.
In the article it says at least 36 people have died from such incidents since 2006, including seven this past 6 months. I can imagine that number will grow significantly with an aging population and more keyless cars replacing older vehicles unless something is done soon.
Given that in many states it is technically illegal to leave a car running unattended, why don't the manufacturers program it to shut the engine off after 5 minutes of idling?
As you age you begin to loose hearing in certain frequencies. If you suffer from tinnitus then some alert frequencies cannot be heard because they match the frequency of your tinnitus. That is one possible reason for them not hearing the alert. The other being they may have left the key fob inside the car.
Not every community requires a CO detector by code so they may not have had any within the home.
When my wife bought her 2019 Hyundai Kona with push button start she too stepped out without pushing the button to turn off the engine. Thankfully I was in the passenger seat at the time and reminded her. I don’t know if it would shut off automatically after a certain amount of time. Thick owners manual to read. Thankfully ours is a carport and I did install combination smoke/CO alarms in the home especially since the house has natural gas.
A timer to shut off the car seems practical except for cases in which there’s a traffic jam. Every ten minutes of no motion it would alert for you to press a button to keep the engine running? How about a combination of an occupancy sensor showing no occupants for ten minutes before sounding an alert for one minute before shutting off the vehicle?
I've never heard of a CO detector in the garage. You would be setting it off all the time.
Unlikely to set it off for quite some time, firstly modern cars emit very little CO. Secondly a CO detector does not go off when it detects any amount of CO. It's impractical, a gas stove for example emits CO.
CO bonds with the hemoglobin in your blood and it can't carry oxygen, this is why it can be so dangerous. With enough exposure even if you were sitting in an emergency room you are still dead.
Exposure to lower levels can be inconsequential for a short time but can be deadly over a longer length of time because it will build up in your blood. The detectors have time based thresholds and they will only go off when the level exceeds the threshold for a given time. It's only when the level of CO can be immediately dangerous they will go off instantly.
In the article it says at least 36 people have died from such incidents since 2006, including seven this past 6 months. I can imagine that number will grow significantly with an aging population and more keyless cars replacing older vehicles unless something is done soon.
36 people in 13 years? 3 deaths average a year. From over 260M registered private vehicles.
It's clearly an epidemic.
There are probably more people run over by their own cars (like Anton Yelchin) than die from this issue, of course there's not people freaking out so much about events that have happened since the Model T.
The car beeped repeatedly when the driver exited without shutting off the engine. Nearly all keyless cars have similar features, and all cars (AFAIK) will beep and so forth if the seat belts are detached while the engine is running and/or the door is open.
I don't really think "keyless" has a lot to do with these accidents; a driver so oblivious or distracted could just as easily forget to turn off the key and take it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dkf747
What about deaf people who can't hear the beeps? The couple that died were older. Could they hear the beeps? Many seniors have hearing loss.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quietude
And this is different from leaving a car running with a key... how?
My response was to your first paragraph above. Beeps are not enough. Visual alerts are needed too. Of course, auto-shutdown would negate the need for it.
i didn't get into the differences, but it is far less likely to be a problem with keys, although it can happen. My comment wasn't really about that, though.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
