Deadly Convenience: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

i would certainly like more than 3 beeps, but there's a lot of things i would change if i could.

 

Well...oh never mind

 

The thing is my Prius makes about zero CO, due to the good cat converter.
So if I left it on in my air-leaky garage, I do not think anything would happen. But I guess you could have a worst-case scenario where the garage was so air-tight and maybe the vehicle could suck all the O2 out of the air, maybe in that condition it could start making CO? or if you had an older vehicle with a poisoned cat converter or leaky exhaust, then it could make more CO? I think what limits the problem is cars just do not make too much CO these days. But at least my TV shuts off in 3-hrs with no inputs. Speaks also to the importance of CO alarms.

 

In addition, as I recall, in our Gen 2 Prius the engine would only run when the traction battery got low. It would run to top it off, then turn off.
So with less running time and running a good Cat converter it would further minimize the issue.

 

I'm not seeing the claim that death and injury from CO poisoning is rising, at least overall. In fact, another source shows that it is falling:

"Total deaths by CO poisoning decreased from 1,967 in 1999 to 1,319 in 2014 (P < 0.001). ... Accidental poisoning accounted for 13% fewer deaths per year in 2014 than in 1999 (P < 0.001)." U.S. Mortality Due to Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, 1999-2014. Accidental and Intentional Deaths. - PubMed - NCBI

This NYT article mentions 28 deaths in 12 years, barely over 2 per year. This seems minuscule compared to the lives saved by the much reduced CO emissions of modern cars, enough so that automobile CO poisoning has become a much less reliable means of suicide. Back in the 1980s, I was regularly hearing of CO deaths in cars on the road, mostly of children sleeping in the back seat of old cars with leaky exhaust or air seepage from the tail end. And I now suspect that was a contributing factor to my own frequent childhood car sickness.

[Side notes: Despite the removal of this method, overall suicide has not fallen, but has risen significantly. And CDC's WISQARS Fatal Injury Reports does show a tripling of Unintentional Non-Drug Poisoning Deaths this century, but doesn't have the detail to allow me to drill down specifically to CO].

Do note that the deaths covered by this article result from a convergence of multiple factors, not just the keyless ignitions themselves. Other factors at fault include:

(*) Quieter engines,
(*) Lack of functioning CO detectors in dwellings with potential CO sources,
(*) Lack of adequate air infiltration sealing/protection from attached garages to dwelling units,
(*) Lack of adequate fresh air changes in dwelling units.

The last three items are building code issues, which some jurisdictions now address, but many don't. All three are important for very many reasons unrelated to keyless ignition cars.

And for reasons unrelated to owning a keyless ignition car, I have addressed all three in my own home.

 

Carbon monoxide deaths with poor ventilation may be many. Most, I suppose, come from 'bad' cooking or electrical generators used unwisely. Cars with catalytic converters kill far fewer I suppose. In this way.

Someone else might find and post actual numbers here. It would be good to not chase the wrong problem.

 

Unfortunately, CO poisoning by Car is not well tracked.
While CO poisoning overall has gone down, it would not surprise me this specific subset is rising.

As for the other factors mentioned by Fuzzy, those are all mitigation factors of the problem. Not prevention of the root cause.

As for houses, we have CO detectors due to building codes, even though we have no use for them. Building codes are a good guideline, but they don’t always help, and as Fuzzy noted, they aren’t always sufficient.

 

I think the new thinking re: home fire alarms is a combined smoke/CO with a 10-year lithium batt

 

Just one more reason I'm glad we picked a model with the classic twist key ignition lock. My wife and I travel a lot, rent many cars and have experienced many pushbutton start cars, but neither of us really trust them or appreciate any advantages in that style. We were thrilled to learn that Toyota still offers the choice, at least within the Prius c trims.

Cars are still much more efficient at killing with their front bumper technology than their ignition key technology.

 

Click bait.
Darwin at work.

I just checked with the Googles.
CO detectors are less than $20.

So....while I've never been much of a fan of Toyota's 'smart key' I do not think that we get to blame them for CO deaths.
For the most part, people who are not smart enough to use smart keys wind up enriching a Toyota dealership whose ethics are sub-par......

 

My Energi uses two full decibel horn honks; can't miss that unless you are truly hearing impaired.

 

I didn't even know Toyota cars can keep running without the fob inside, until I recently did a test drive of RAV4 at a dealer. The salesman brought up the car and left the car running, told me to take it to a spin. He did not ride along. He had the fob in his pocket and walked away. After I got in a car and trying to leave the dealer parking lot, I noticed the warning on the dash saying "no key found". I turned around and looked for the salesman. Well, my PRIME is parked outside, so no CO worry.

 

The Prius was the first vehicle I ever owned that had a smart key and a push button start.
When I got my Honda Fit? I went up the trim level ladder, at considerable cost, to get a Honda Fit with push button start and a smart key entry.

Why?

Because The Prius spoiled me.

It's so nice...and it's "just nice" not necessary, but very nice....
To be able to walk up to your vehicle, simply open the locked door instantly, and sit down, push a button and drive, all without having to remove a key or anything from your pockets.

Running for your vehicle during one rain downpour and you realize how nice the smart key system and keyless entry can be.

Is there a danger to push button starts?
Well obviously yes.
Read the article, and you learn people have died.

But I think the same automakers that can give us the convenience of keyless entry and push button starts, should also be able to build in better corresponding safeguards.

Exactly what form those safeguards take? I'll leave up to debate. But I think the avenues are vehicles that shut themselves off after X amount of time separated from the Fob, or without a driver or movement...
To simply- clearer more insistent warnings.

How much cost would it take to employ a warning that was entirely impossible to ignore? After X amount of time, have a "panic button" like warning---flashing lights, beeping horns...make it so if you've left your vehicle running, you're going to know.
Built in Carbon Monoxide warnings? Readers"

I'm not really sure what the best answer for this problem is...but it seems to me it should be a very answerable problem.

I don't think we're moving back to keys. People like push button and they like keyless entry.

And one death is one death too many.
So, I think automakers have to figure out the best safeguards to employ, and add them to the total system.

 

I agree just because the number of deaths may be low does not mean we should ignor it.

 

toyota has added some user programmable features to gen 4, but we need more.

 

FYI, you could have continued the test drive without it; just don't turn it off! LOL

Seriously, folks including myself have gotten caught out by this (wife had only keyfob in her purse when I dropped her off and continued on other errands).

 

Yap, the salesman told me about that. I took the RAV4 for spin on that day during snow storm. I did drive on some back roads with quite bit of unplowed snow. Unbeknown to me, had I continued on out of dealer lot and onto the snowy back country roads without the fob, and if I decided to park the car and shut the engine off miles away from main road. That would have been a long miserable hike.

 

'Idling' may mean different things in different settings.
Mostly when the engine starts when the Prius is stopped, it is to push M/G1 to generate electricity. From a CO point of view, this may not be idling. Sometimes it starts just to make hot water for the heater, I suspect that IS idling. I have not logged RPMs, it is too rare in MS that I need heat)