A ‘Horrific Accident’ Calls Attention To The Risks Of Keyless Ignitions
New car trends create new risks for children.
by Lisa Belkin
During the first cold snap of autumn last Wednesday in Louisville, Ky., Juvenal Garcia Mora apparently turned on his car and let it warm up in the closed garage of the family home on Plaudit Way, while he got his two young children ready for school. They never arrived.
According to Louisville Metro Police, Mora and his 3-year-old son, Cruz Isaac Garcia, died on the scene — the father found on the floor outside the vehicle, the little boy in his car seat. Cruz’s sister, Mayra Garcia, who was 8, was unconscious on the seat beside him. She died the next day at the hospital. All three were apparently poisoned by carbon monoxide.
Although this kind of “horrific accident,” as police officials describe it, has been occurring since the invention of the automobile, it is happening more often in recent years, according to KidsandCars.org, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing deaths and injuries of children in and around vehicles. The reason is an unintended consequence of new technology: remote key fobs.
The electronic devices, which are a convenience and a security measure, make it possible to start a car without getting inside, and to walk away while accidentally leaving the engine running, something people are less likely to do with a keyed ignition.
“As more keyless ignition vehicles are sold, we are seeing an increase in these predictable and preventable injuries and deaths,” said the organization’s president, Janette Fennell. Her group has documented 28 fatalities and 71 injuries due to carbon monoxide buildup in keyless ignition vehicles in the United States in the past 12 years. The prevalence of keyless technology has increased dramatically over the same period, according to Edmunds.com. In 2008, traditional keyed ignition systems were standard in 89 percent of new cars, and now they are in just 38 percent.
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