Poorly Implemented Safety Features in Today's Smarter Vehicles

[04_Sport_LS]

Sooo... Today I'm reading a couple day old newspaper... and I see an article about an older gentleman and his dog... who suffocated to death from CO2 poisoning when his "SmartKey" , (keyless), vehicle was left running in the garage, (for 10 hours)... while they were sleeping upstairs.

I sincerely hope some current auto engineer is reading this.

REALLY????? This was completely preventable!!! Todays vehicles have presence switches in the seats for airbags. How hard would it be to tie the vehicle ignition system into that seat switch... so the car shuts down after 15 minutes if no one is sitting in the drivers seat?????????

 

[joegr]

... so the car shuts down after 15 minutes if no one is sitting in the drivers seat?????????

AND the car is in park and not moving!
Seat switches/sensors can fail. Don't want it to shut it down on the freeway at 80 MPH.

I believe that at least some Ford cars already have this feature or something similar to it to try and prevent this issue.

The other part to this is that there needs to be better sealing between garages and the insides of houses. CO detectors should be required too. I have one in the garage, wired to all the smoke detectors (if one goes off, all sound the alarm) and the security system. On my someday project list is to make it also automatically open the garage door.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

AND the car is in park and not moving!
Seat switches/sensors can fail. Don't want it to shut it down on the freeway at 80 MPH.

Agreed Joe . Redundancies are a good thing, (except when having to diagnose a failed one).

Either way... the man and dog should still be alive.

 

[FDR]

I believe my '14 Fusion has an idle timer accessible by Forscan, but the default is to run until you stop it or it runs out of gas. I'd bet people are more likely to complain about the "nanny" turning off the car for them. I'm not sure about other brands, but Fords (at least, the ~2010+ models) beep twice when you close the door with the key outside the running vehicle. I don't have experience with other brands, though, just my own Fusion and every 2013-2018 Ford while I worked at a dealer

 

[joegr]

...I'm not sure about other brands, but Fords (at least, the ~2010+ models) beep twice when you close the door with the key outside the running vehicle. ...

Hyundai does the same.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

Well the guy was 68 years old. Maybe he was hard of hearing... unless you mean the car horn beeps twice.

 

[joegr]

Well the guy was 68 years old. Maybe he was hard of hearing... unless you mean the car horn beeps twice.

In the case of the Hyundai, it's not the car horn, but another fairly loud horn/buzzer under the hood, not in the cabin. Maybe they should flash the headlights too, for the hard of hearing or deaf?

 

[joegr]

Of course, this assumes that he took his smart key with him. I know at least one couple that leaves theirs in the center console.

 

[lincoln_zero]

Seat switches/sensors can fail. Don't want it to shut it down on the freeway at 80 MPH.

.

This snagged my attention.
Anyone remember the early 2000's GM lawsuit for failed ignition switch? This fiasco was linked to 124 deaths (accounted for). The problem: Having excess weight on the key chain, other than the key itself, added enough pressure to disengage the ignition from the 'on' position to 'off'. Drivers couldn't react quick enough and this resulted in accidents / deaths.

The total amounts GM lost on this was about $4.1 Billion in recalls, $2.5 billion in legal costs and settlements, $900 million fine to the Justice Department, $600 million as part of a compensation program to families of victims killed / injured.

I'm sad to hear about this elderly man. Its always heartbreaking to hear loss of life . Unfortunately, this is double carelessness on his part. Failing to turn off his own vehicle, and failing to provide adequate carbon detection in his home. We are all warned frequently about carbon (weather it be in school, Fire department TV ads, radio etc..) and many simply ignore it.


The day they add auto turn off to my vehicle, is the day I tear my car apart to rip it right out.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

The problem: Having excess weight on the key chain, other than the key itself,

Yeah.... any time I hear of someone saying they had to replace their ignition switch... I just smile and say, So you're one of "those" people that hang 20 lbs. off your keychain.

They usually smile, (sheepishly), and say... yeahhh.
Heard it from a co-worker a couple weeks ago. On top of the $400 repair... it cost him a days wages. I know Dodge says nothing on the key ring except for the key... right in the manual... and supposedly now the sales people are preaching it too.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

The day they add auto turn off to my vehicle, is the day I tear my car apart to rip it right out.

It might eventually become mandated by the EPA for emissions purposes. AND if you tear it out... it will probably disable the vehicle.

 

[joegr]

It might eventually become mandated by the EPA for emissions purposes. AND if you tear it out... it will probably disable the vehicle.

Well, auto stop-start is almost already there. So far, you can disable it, but you have to do so every time you start the car.

 

[lincoln_zero]

And thats what programmers are for. You can permanently disable the auto stop easily using an SCT or the likes. One way or another, there will be a work around.

 

[Jtown]

A manufacture should not be liable for every possible scenario a consumer can create. Some, yes but many no. I had to retro fit the outlets in the majority of my home due to a remodel. At my age and no kids, do I really have to get tamper resistant outlets? A simple example I know, but they're thousands of governmental imposed regulations that drive the cost of all products and services up.

My Fusion shuts off if I leave it running without the keys but I don't know how long it takes. Keep this in mind if you leave your pet in the hot sun to run in. a store. I found that out the hard way. My dog was like, WTH dude! All the crap they keep adding to cars is driving the price up to ridicules numbers. The liberal nanny state wants driversless cars! Don't even approach the second amendment....

I appreciate the heads up on my Mopar. My daughters are notorious for personalizing their key chains.

 

[LS4me]

Well, auto stop-start is almost already there. So far, you can disable it, but you have to do so every time you start the car.

Only on some cars... I coded our 2012 to default to "off" and our 2014 remembers the last setting; which for me is "off".

 

[joegr]

Only on some cars... I coded our 2012 to default to "off" and our 2014 remembers the last setting; which for me is "off".

Well, you can set a lot of stuff on BMWs that you can't on most other cars. Some of that you can't get a dealer to do for legal reasons, but you can do it yourself with bootleg software.
I think that it is an EPA thing that causes most cars to always start out with start/stop enabled. If the manufacturer used that feature to get their MPG rating, then it has to be a pain for people to not use it. If the car received a good enough MPG rating without doing start/stop, then it can be an easy on/off option.

 

[acolds]

My 2015 MKS has a built in feature that shuts the engine off if you leave it running the length of time is owner adjustable

 

[1LoudLS]

Ford though of this, my Focus will shut itself off if it idles for more than 15 minutes. if your sitting in the car, a warning comes on the message center and allows you to cancel it (reset the timer)

Well, auto stop-start is almost already there. So far, you can disable it, but you have to do so every time you start the car.

Fun Fact: With an F150, you can just put one of those LED Ford emblems that light up with the brakes into the trailer receiver and plug it in to one of the trailer connectors and it will always keep the system disabled. Ford keeps the system off anytime you are towing.

 

[pragmatic]

Slightly different item. I was watching a mechanic video and he was doing an oil change on a Prius. He warned the viewers that the key should be taken out of range of the vehicle. He has had Prius engines automatically restart while the vehicle was in the air and after he had drained the oil.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

Yikes!!!!!!!!!