Warning...Why you might not want a remote starter, if you store your car in an attached garage.

Not really a problem with a Prius as the engine won't run non stop unless the temperature is below freezing.

If your attached garage is blow 50 F something isn't right to begin with and sure if you use heat often you need a carbon monoxide detector.

In my garage the prius would sit off the majority of the time and might run out of gas in a week or so from a full tank, at least 2 days from low tank.

Besides the Prius doesn't spew out enough CO to kill someone in my house, too many cu ft vs one very low emissions gas engine.

All in all I'd say this thread is about useless to anyone with a car made after 2005.

 

No report on this recent tragedy I can find reports that it was a Prius.
In fact the only report I can find seems to suggest that authorities think the couple drove the vehicle into the basement garage and then left the vehicle running. No mention of it being a Prius and/or having remote start.

There have been tragedies in the past with push button start.

Toyota sued in carbon monoxide tragedy | PriusChat

 

I don't understand how someone can accidentally start their car with the remote starter? Do many people sleep with keys in their pocket? I do agree that everyone should have a carbon monoxide detector in their home. It isn't just the car that is an issue. If you have anything that uses natural gas, it can do the same thing. There may not be many stories about the Prius killing anyone from this phenomenon, but there are far too many people who die because of carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

Yes, but that report say's "Keyless Ignition" not "Remote Start".

Never mind, seems they are not sure whether the vehicle was left running OR accidently started with a remote start.

Can anyone explain this statement from last paragraph of the above article:

" The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed a rule to standardize the length of time required to use a keyless control to a half-second, and it would require that engines or propulsion systems shut down in one full second."

What? I'm not really clear on how those applied standards would of avoided this type of tragedy. If the couple either left the vehicle running by mistake, or accidentally started it with the remote start I hardly think a 1/2 a second to start and/or a full second to shut down would of made a difference.​

 

I crouched down to inflate a tire in my driveway only to hear the air conditioning start up in my Prius once.

 

Remote starters are usually set to turn off the vehicle after 10 minutes. Also, only a total of 20 mins or so of activation before one has to physically get in the car and start it before it will remote start again. The total minutes I have may not be exact but they are around the times as mentioned in the factory remote start manual...

SCH-R530M ? 2

 

A properly constructed attached, or interior garage will have NO way for the CO fumes to enter into the house. It's a poorly constructed house where garage air can mix with house air. Also bad builders, and poorly written codes come into play!
A stupid way to die....detectors are so cheap....how much is that life worth?

 

my challenger will only run for 10 minutes if remotely started

 

+3
To prevent tragedies like this, remote starters automatically turn off after a few minutes. Sounds like bad garage ventilation and neglect to turn off the car is the reason for this couple's death.

 

we have the factory remote start. it takes a sequence of button pressing to enable remote start. now i'm not saying it's impossible, but i bet i'd win mega millions before i could get my car to randomly start by having other keys in my pocket.

also, the hybrid "starts" for 10 minutes, but the engine runs intermittently.

 

Toyota Avalon with a V6 of 3.5L is nothing and I mean nothing like the emissions of a prius with a 1.5L or 1.8L 4 cyl engine that auto shuts off when the traction battery has enough bars and the car is not moving.

Yes a traditional ICE vehicle like the Avalon can kill you with emissions, NO a modern car like a Prius can NOT kill you in the same way.

 

My house has a 2 car garage below the bedrooms in a split foyer layout. The central HVAC uses plenum return and I highly doubt the garage to living space interface is air tight.

Then again between the garage and living space there is something on the order of 25,000 cu ft of airspace and I tend to leave the fan on continuous to filter allergens so how much could the concentration be with one vehicle vs that much airspace?

I'm sure if I left a older V6 running with a full tank of gas it could fill the space but a modern SULEV like the Prius isn't going to fill that space with CO.

see United States emission standards - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Not a problem with an American made Ford F150 running on CNG.

 

Only a start button push of more than 1/2 sec and less than a full second would start the car. The idea being a short jab or sitting on the fob would rarely be in this time window.

 

I really don't like keyless ignition, especially for me. This is just a couple of deaths, but deaths none the less. The 2004-2009 Prius had it right. The 2010+ Prius does not. I'm stuck with 50 years of irreversible car programming. If the key is in my pocket and the engine is not running, then my subconscious programming tells me the car is off. I've been working on changing it, but 50 years of (formerly) correct operation is not changed by one car in a couple of years.

This is a case of convenience becoming deadly.

 

Old dirty engines can be very dangerous, I'm not worried about keyless ignition but I would be worried about an old engine.