Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll • Hacker News Board

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#11

Post by Swizec » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:11 PM UTC

hi41 wrote: post #4

>a software change that it said could be accomplished for pennies per vehicle. In the face of auto industry opposition, the agency let the plan languish, though it says a rule is still under consideration. Why the car industry would oppose such a minor fix is beyond me. If it does not even hurt the bottom line, why not make that change.

Many reasons why they’d oppose. Making it automatic means you become liable when it doesn’t work. Software has bugs. Adding it to older cars means you have to admit your cars aren’t safe and that’s hard plus recalls are annoying to deal with. People are fed up with all the beeping in modern cars and are becoming alarm deaf.

I’m sure there’s others.

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#12

Post by kemitche » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:14 PM UTC

helloworld wrote: post #8

pmoriarty wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sentence following the one you quote says: "Dozens of others have been injured, some left with brain damage." So deaths are not the whole story. While one is certainly far more likely to die in a automobile collision, of heart disease, or cancer, I don't think it helps anyone to ignore the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning. Incidentally, other sources of carbon monoxide can also exist in the home, so it's a good…

You make a reasonable point, and I don't mean to trivialize a serious issue -- carbon monoxide poisoning caused by keyless cars -- but in comparison, bathtub drownings are far more common: about 335 a year.[1] [1] https://www.seattlepi.com/national/article/Someone-drowns-in...

Ah but what's the ownership rate of bathtubs compared to keyless start cars?

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#13

Post by emodendroket » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:15 PM UTC

I guess one advantage of driving a manual car is you won't make that mistake after violently stalling your car a few times.

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#14

Post by jedberg » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:16 PM UTC

> Despite years of deaths, regulatory action has lagged.

In California at least, all new homes and all rentals are required to have CO detectors. It seems like that would be a good regulation to have nationwide, which would help with this problem as well as other CO related issues.

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#15

Post by kemitche » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:16 PM UTC

I wonder if these vehicles wouldn't benefit from an onboard CO detector? Automatic shutoff if the vehicle is stationary and CO hits a given threshold.

There's indubitably a bunch of reasons not to do it that way...

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#16

Post by emodendroket » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:17 PM UTC

hi41 wrote: post #4

>a software change that it said could be accomplished for pennies per vehicle. In the face of auto industry opposition, the agency let the plan languish, though it says a rule is still under consideration. Why the car industry would oppose such a minor fix is beyond me. If it does not even hurt the bottom line, why not make that change.

I'd think some drivers prefer the current behavior. Like if you don't have a garage and live somewhere with cold winters you probably want to be able to start it and walk away.

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#17

Post by emodendroket » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:18 PM UTC

rdiddly wrote: post #10

35,000 people are being killed in the US every year by cars, but now suddenly it's "Deadly Convenience," now that 2 people a year are dying from CO poisoning?

That seems like a misreading.

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#18

Post by tptacek » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:20 PM UTC

I feel like I read sometime last year 'DannyBee saying that modern cars were efficient enough that it was unlikely they'd be dangerous running in a garage.

Found it:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14705990

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#19

Post by lisper » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:23 PM UTC

Sounds to me like a big part of the problem is that these cars are too quiet. (I call that a nice problem to have.)

My car beeps at me pretty loudly when I get out with the engine running.

Re: Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

#20

Post by Terretta » Sun, May 13, 2018, 11:23 PM UTC

kemitche wrote: post #12

helloworld wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make a reasonable point, and I don't mean to trivialize a serious issue -- carbon monoxide poisoning caused by keyless cars -- but in comparison, bathtub drownings are far more common: about 335 a year.[1] [1] https://www.seattlepi.com/national/article/Someone-drowns-in...

Ah but what's the ownership rate of bathtubs compared to keyless start cars?

Ok, but what’s the ‘deep enough water to drown in’ usage rate of bathtubs compared to usage of keyless entry cars by their owners? These days bathtubs seem to be inconvenient showers...