Deadly Convenience: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

[DonViejo]

Weaned from using a key, drivers have left cars running in garages, spewing exhaust into homes. Despite years of deaths, regulatory action has lagged.

By David Jeans and Majlie De Puy Kamp

May 13, 2018
It seems like a common convenience in a digital age: a car that can be powered on and off with the push of a button, rather than the mechanical turning of a key. But it is a convenience that can have a deadly effect.

On a summer morning last year, Fred Schaub drove his Toyota RAV4 into the garage attached to his Florida home and went into the house with the wireless key fob, evidently believing the car was shut off. Twenty-nine hours later, he was found dead, overcome with carbon monoxide that flooded his home while he slept.

“After 75 years of driving, my father thought that when he took the key with him when he left the car, the car would be off,” said Mr. Schaub’s son Doug.

Mr. Schaub is among more than two dozen people killed by carbon monoxide nationwide since 2006 after a keyless-ignition vehicle was inadvertently left running in a garage. Dozens of others have been injured, some left with brain damage.

more
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/business/deadly-convenience-keyless-cars-and-their-carbon-monoxide-toll.html

[Vinca]

1. I wasn't even aware of this kind of ignition. Yikes! Does any manufacturer make a vehicle that

isn't loaded to the hilt with every automated device known to man??? I don't even like having power windows. If you end up in water there's no rolling them down. If Toyota is going to have that ignition in their cars, they should also have an automatic shut-off if the vehicle doesn't move for a period of time.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. I've always found that fear of ending up in water

to be blown way out of proportion. How often does that happen, anyway?

The convenience of power windows is enormous, especially if I want to put down the passenger side window, since I'm too short and too short-armed to reach all the way across my Honda Civic, which is hardly a large car.

I have a couple of friends with those keyless (although the key needs to be nearby) ignitions, and I'm not sure I'd want one myself. That they don't turn off automatically when the key gets some particular distance away is especially troubling. Even if death doesn't occur, running completely out of gas would be an inconvenience, to put it mildly.

[MiniMe]

2. My Jeep will turn off after 15 minutes if the key isn't in close proximity

It is a 2017, so maybe they are starting to think about that now

[MurrayDelph]

3. I have an 8-year-old Prius

It's a slightly different thing as it turns off the engine all the time. But it also had a keyless ignition, and if the engine is running and there's no key, it makes an annoying sound.

[Atman]

10. My car makes a high-pitched beep...

...if you leave the car running and walk away with the fob in your pocket. If you choose to ignore it it only runs ten minutes if the fob is not nearby.

[Demovictory9]

5. Kick.

[rickford66]

6. My son bought a 2017 Mustang GT 6 speed manual.

For the life of me, I can't see a way to push start this car if the battery is dead. He also lost one of the keys and it costs more than $250 to replace. The guy that died may have left the keys within the shutoff distance. Maybe right inside his door like a lot of people.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. I rented a keyless Nissan Altima, liked the car and considered one for my next car

But the more I read about these deadly incidents, the worse the idea sounds.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. NYT: More than 2 dozen people killed by carbon monoxide after leaving on their keyless cars

A report from the New York Times found that dozens of people have been poisoned by carbon monoxide after failing to shut off the keyless ignition on their vehicles.

Since 2006 at least 28 people have died and 45 others have suffered injuries from the gas after they thought they had turned off their vehicles, the Times found.

The report highlights the efforts by some groups to push for new regulations from automakers to combat the problem.

Keyless ignition allows drivers to start their cars with the press of a button while an electronic key fob remains in their pocket or purse. The technology first entered the American market in the early 2000s.

In 2015, a class action lawsuit claimed there had been 13 carbon monoxide-related deaths linked to keyless ignition cars. A judge dismissed the suit in September 2016.

The Times report, published Sunday, indicates the problem may be more widespread than previously thought.


More: http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/13/news/keyless-car-deaths-carbon-monoxide-new-york-times/index.html

[Raine]

9. I heard that it's easier for thieves to get into too

some thieves have a device that allows them to just walk down the street and click open cars that are keyless then take what they want. I had a rental car that was keyless but I didn't really see any advantage to not having a key.

[Atman]

11. You still need a key.

You just don’t have to use it. Just keep it in your pocket (or purse, whatever). It pops open the trunk automatically when you walk up to it, very convenient at grocery stores. Thumb print unlocks and locks the doors (again, as long as you have the key in your pocket.) I never that I’d care about it until I got a car with it. Combined with the smartphone app that lets you remote start and control many of the functions from just about anywhere, I think it’s awesome.