Comments on: Police SUV Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Fourth Reported Case in Austin, TX https://carbonmonoxide.com/2017/05/police-suv-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-fourth-reported-case-austin-tx.html Fri, 07 Apr 2023 19:41:08 +0000 hourly 1 By: Attorney Gordon Johnson https://carbonmonoxide.com/2017/05/police-suv-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-fourth-reported-case-austin-tx.html#comment-461 Wed, 31 May 2017 15:26:57 +0000 https://carbonmonoxide.com/?p=3051#comment-461 In reply to Albert Donnay, CO Toxicologist.

Thank you Albert. Good hearing from you. I completely concur about the unacceptable standard range of alarming in detectors. The portable detectors are best.

Attorney Gordon Johnson

]]> By: Albert Donnay, CO Toxicologist https://carbonmonoxide.com/2017/05/police-suv-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-fourth-reported-case-austin-tx.html#comment-459 Wed, 31 May 2017 13:18:16 +0000 https://carbonmonoxide.com/?p=3051#comment-459 I am surprised this post does not mention that the exhaust leak in Ford Explorers is the subject of a class action lawsuit covering 2011-2015 model years. As of May 2017, a settlement is pending in which Ford is offering owners two rounds of repair, including replacing the exhaust system, but not promising that either repair will stop the problem, which Ford still refuses to issue a recall for. The same “odor problem” is also being reported in 2016 and 2017 vehicles, as CBS and others first reported back in February, 2017, but no lawyers have yet taken up their case.

see http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ford-explorer-lawsuits-exhaust-leak-carbon-monoxide/

Unfortunately, the solution discussed in this blog of putting a CO detector in a vehicle may not prevent CO poisoning. If it’s a UL-listed home CO detector, it won’t alarm unless CO has been continuously over 70 ppm for 1-4 hours, or at the high end, over 400 for 4 -15 minutes. The “detectors” being installed by Austin PD are even worse, just paper “spots” that change color irreversibly when exposed to CO over time.

Drivers concerned about being CO poisoned while in their vehicle should carry a portable CO detector with a digital display that can be set to alarm immediately, without delay, at any preset level. (I recommend alarming above the US EPA outdoor limit of 9ppm, which is more than 10 times the current US outdoor average to which most people are habituated). These cost $100-$200 in USA but less than $50 in UK. See for example the Fire Angel 9D model at http://fireangel.co.uk/products/carbon-monoxide-alarms/co-9d/ (I have no affiliation)

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