On Wednesday, a class-action lawsuit was filed in a Los Angeles federal court, accusing ten of the world's biggest automakers of concealing the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning(link is external) in more than 5 million vehicles equipped with keyless ignitions. The complaint says this lack of oversight led to at least 13 poisoning deaths in the United States.  According to the suit, carbon monoxide is emitted when drivers leave their vehicles running after taking their electronic key fobs(link is external) with them. Keyless ignitions allow drivers to start their car with an on-off button instead of a key, as long as the electronic fob is close enough to be sensed by the vehicle. Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, so for people whose homes are attached to their garages, a car left running can prove deadly. The 28 plaintiffs are suing ten major automakers, as well as brands under them: 

• BMW, including Mini
• Daimler's Mercedes Benz
• Fiat Chrysler
• Ford Motor Co.
• General Motors Co.
• Honda, including Acura
• Hyundai, including Kia
• Nissan, including Infiniti
• Toyota, including Lexus
• Volkswagen, including Bentley.

The lawsuit claims that these automakers have long known about the risks of keyless ignitions, but have deceived drivers by marketing their vehicles as safe. The plaintiffs say the car manufacturers could have easily avoided customer deaths and injuries by installing an inexpensive feature that would automatically turn off unattended engines. The lawsuit seeks class-action status and an injunction requiring automakers to install these automatic shut-off features—which both GM and Ford have even sought to patent(link is external)—on all existing and future keyless ignition vehicles. The suit also seeks compensatory and punitive damages. A knee-jerk reaction I've been seeing to the lawsuit around the internet is something along the lines of "Why are people so stupid that they can't even shut their cars off?(link is external)" As the lawsuit states, though, there have been 27 complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)(link is external) since 2009 over keyless ignitions, In fact, the NHTSA opened a probe into the safety of keyless ignition vehicles in 2014(link is external). The danger with keyless ignitions seems to stem from the fact that the vehicles idle very quietly, and that after decades of using a key to start a car, drivers' brains are hardwired to equate "no key" with "off." The safety hazards aren't limited to carbon monoxide poisoning(link is external), either: many owners have been injured when their vehicle began rolling away when the exiting a car they believed was off. This is because, unlike older models of cars that had to be in "park," many vehicles with keyless ignitions can be turned off while in gear.  The case is Draeger et al versus Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 15-06491.