The Consumer Corner - Written by Beasley Allen on Thursday, April 19, 2012 12:02 - 2 Comments

Tougher Safety Rules Needed For Keyless Ignitions

The American Association for Justice has urged federal regulators to adopt a rule requiring keyless ignition engines in automobiles to shut off after 30 minutes of idling. In comments to submitted on March 12th, AAJ said the proposed rule regarding theft protection and rollaway protection, which would only require that an audible alert sound after the engine idles for a certain period of time, is not enough to protect against risks such as carbon monoxide poisoning. AAJ President Gary M. Paul, in the comments submitted to , said:

The dangers surrounding unknowingly failing to turn off the car engine, combined with the lack of sensory prompts, such as engine noise, in newer vehicles have been proven to be a fatal combination.

According to AAJ, several deaths have been linked to idling keyless ignitions. Most of these deaths involved drivers who left their car engines running in attached garages for lengthy periods of time, causing carbon monoxide poisoning. Keyless ignitions pose an increased danger of carbon monoxide poisoning because they take away the deeply ingrained habit to turn a key in order to shut down the car engine. Additionally, newer cars are quieter which can exacerbate the problems associated with leaving an unattended car running. All of this was in the letter sent to .

Source: AAJ News Release



2 Comments

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Larry Blumenkranz
Jun 11, 2012 13:59

I file a complaint with the NHTSA and I have not heard a single word regarding my 2011 Altima with this dumb keyless entry problem. I have left my car on twice already and my wife has done it once. The car is so quiet, that you fail to know you accidently did not press the button hard enough or you missed the button (which incidently is obscured by the steering wheel and whipper control arm) completely. Wasting gas is bad , but if my daughter borrows my car and parks it in her garage and fails to shut it down…shutter to think of the probable disaster. Why if you can put a auto start feature in your vehicle (so you can start it from inside your home in cold weather), and it will auto shut down the car if you dont get into it in 10 minutes, then why can’t these car dealers program the cars computer to do the =same thing if the car is left on without the key fob present????Again the cost factor in correcting something very dangerous probably means more than death and injury to innocent people!
I asked why a shut off feature work or at least a horn blowing or beeping to let you know you’ve left the car running and you are walking away. We hear the horns blowing when we accidently press the button on our alarm remote or when someone opens a door without shiutting off their alarm…so why can’t they attach the same circutry to the horn or the lights to flash…something more audible than the three little chirps I now have that u can faitly hear. Something has to be done before more people die.This is not only a Nissan problem but a problem all manufacturers should be concerned with. I seriously will not consider leasing or buying another keyless entry vehicle unless there are changes made!

Mark
Jul 18, 2012 16:14

I really don’t see the need to do anything with the key-less start. How hard is it to make sure that the car is shut off. Give me a break! Every time, before I leave my vehicle I check to make sure the hand break is up, the radio is off, the wipers are turned off, the windows are rolled up, the lights are off and oh yeah; the car is shut off. Don’t blame the car makers for something they don’t need to fix. You just need to make sure, before you leave the vehicle that it’s shut off.

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