Posted on 08/28/2015 11:32:42 AM PDT by Smittie
Some of the world’s biggest automakers should have recalled millions of vehicles with keyless ignitions because the cars, which don’t shut off automatically if the driver fails to press the start/stop button, could be a deadly carbon monoxide risk, according to a new lawsuit.
According to the suit, filed in Los Angeles Federal Court on behalf of keyless car drivers Wednesday, there have been at least 13 deaths -- and a number of close calls -- from carbon monoxide poisoning after consumers failed to manually shut off their engines. The suit claims, “Reasonable drivers mistakenly believe that removing the Keyless Fob from the vehicle turns off the engine.”
Keyless cars allow drivers to start their engines without inserting a key into the ignition switch, but instead pressing a start/stop button. To shut off the car, they must manually press the button again.
The lawsuit claims the defendants -- Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Honda, GM, BMW, Volkswagen, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Kia -- knew or should have known of these risks. Yet according to the suit, they allegedly sold keyless fobs “without instituting adequate safeguards, warnings, or other safety features,” including a relatively inexpensive auto-off feature that automatically switches the engine off if the car is left unattended.
(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...
Another lawsuit blaming a manufacturer for a user’s stupidity.
My wife’s hybrid Camry is very quiet when sitting and running. In a noisy parking lot, tough to hear sometimes. This after getting used to it.
One tap of the remote will answer questions.
To add a little humor to this discussion: I grew up in a small Michigan town where there was a couple who won the Michigan lottery. Of course, they bought a big fancy car and the husband soon turned into a drunk.
One night he came home, drove into his garage, shut the garage door and fell asleep in his car. The wife, from inside the home, used a remote to start the car, which soon filled the garage with carbon monoxide.
Obviously he croaked, and the wife eventually confessed and went to jail.
Creative and funny, and she probably would never have been caught!
I would be more leery of an auto shutoff system that might turn the car off when it wasn't supposed to.
No. (So the rest of your post is pointless ...)
The electronic "key" stays in your pocket. There's a big, lit-up start/stop button on the dashboard. Oddly enough, you use it to stop and start the engine. Funny how it works that way.
Now that you mention it my daughter's Honda Insight shuts off at red lights and you can't hear it. It also shuts off the A/C which is intolerable. But I would still turn the car off when getting out.
For years we used a Chevy stepside on the farm.
Key in the dashboard and starter button on the floor.
Add on electric heater bolted under the dash.
If I recall, you could start that particular truck without the key, but needed the key to use the lights.
My mechanic has an old Chevy stepside sitting in back of his shop.
Still has the original wooden floor in the bed.
If he doesn’t want too much for it, I might buy it.
My son and I could have fun putting an engine in it.
“How does one even get out of a running car without hearing the engine? Maybe these thirteen who died were deaf or hard of hearing?”
Actually, my Nissan Murano is so quiet and vibration free while running that this is rather easy to do.
It is very easy to step out of a running car with the push button start/stop. All of our cars have that and I have stepped out several times without stopping the engine. The cars are smooth running and quiet enough that I don’t notice them running at all.
That's a harsh conclusion considering the victims are more than likely to be from "The Greatest Generation".
Thing is, it is very clear. I’ve only driven a car like this once. It was a rental. The first thing I asked myself was, “If you press a button to start the engine, how do you stop it?” It was, quite literally, a no brainer. And I’m 61.
Even members of “the greatest generation” have no business behind the wheel of a car. It doesn’t mean the car maker is at fault.
I also noticed that several folks here have this kind of car and said that if you get too far from the car it honks at you. Just exactly how moron-proof do the makers have to design these cars before they are not responsible for bad behavior? Should the car shoot rubber bullets at you to get your attention.
Sorry, I’m just so sick and tired of the way our current culture processes the concept of personal responsibility.
Hybrid cars shut off the gasoline engine, often when you slow down as you turn into your subdivision. The car then cruises silently into your garage. When you put it in park, it is totally silent. If you don't push the START button to turn it off, it will sit there for several hours until the battery runs down, and then start the engine to recharge the battery.
Thank you all for pointing out my misunderstanding of the way these cars work. I had misread the article.
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