An article in this morning's newspaper got me thinking about this.
I remember hearing years ago that our modern cars produce so little carbon monoxide that it couldn't be concentrated enough to kill. WRONG.
One man died yesterday in the garage with his Buick running, and three others in the house died also.
Now I'm thinking about something I found out about the Prius I'm driving:
The driver can park the car, get out and walk away with the key in his/her pocket, and if s/he doesn't shut down the hybrid power system (turn off the car) it will stay in "run" mode. That is, power from the battery will keep running the car's systems, and the engine will run periodically to recharge the drive battery.
So if someone parks in the garage under the house, takes the remote key, locks the car and goes into the house … periodically, the gasoline engine will come on for a while.
Is this dangerous? Probably.
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The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
Ed, I heard about those 4 people. Just awful. I do think this is a danger. Some sort of warning alarm will have to be integrated into the systems of these hybrids to fix this problem, just as the are adding "noise" to the vehicles since there have been too many accidents with pedestrians because of how quiet the hybrids are.
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Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug.
Ed, I heard about those 4 people. Just awful. I do think this is a danger. Some sort of warning alarm will have to be integrated into the systems of these hybrids to fix this problem, just as the are adding "noise" to the vehicles since there have been too many accidents with pedestrians because of how quiet the hybrids are.
The car does "whistle" when it's running and the key is taken away from the car.
I found out that it will stay in "run" mode without the key present, one day when I left it with valet parking at a hospital.
They had it parked close when I went to pick it up, so they just gave me the key ... and when I got to the car it was already / still on.
The engine will run often enough and long enough to keep it at normal operating temperature, until it's shut off or it runs out of gas.
Usually with the "keyless" ignition, I only take the key out of my pocket to give it to a parking lot attendant. It's very easy to just get out of the car with the system on, and walk away, unless the driver knows what that whistle signal means.
__________________
The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
ed--you're driving the premier hybrid vehicle on the planet--just turn the damned thing off when you get out of it
Gee, if only I'd thought of that
Actually, if the driver doesn't turn it off BEFORE getting out, it's too late. The push button is to the right of the steering column, and is hidden from the driver's view by the steering wheel.
__________________
The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
ed--you're driving the premier hybrid vehicle on the planet--just turn the damned thing off when you get out of it
Gee, if only I'd thought of that
Actually, if the driver doesn't turn it off BEFORE getting out, it's too late. The push button is to the right of the steering column, and is hidden from the driver's view by the steering wheel.
So your key fob won't turn it off? Or you don't have a FOB, if not, that is just a design fail on the car companies.
__________________
Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug.
ed--you're driving the premier hybrid vehicle on the planet--just turn the damned thing off when you get out of it
Gee, if only I'd thought of that
Actually, if the driver doesn't turn it off BEFORE getting out, it's too late. The push button is to the right of the steering column, and is hidden from the driver's view by the steering wheel.
So your key fob won't turn it off? Or you don't have a FOB, if not, that is just a design fail on the car companies.
I can lock or unlock the doors or set off the car alarm from up to 50 feet away, but there's no shut off in the remote.
__________________
The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
