Just the Facts:
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing a rule that would standardize keyless ignition systems, citing a NASA study following consumer complaints about runaway Toyotas, among other safety-related concerns.
- The proposal says it will "reduce the risk that drivers will misuse these new systems" and "reduce crashes, injuries and deaths resulting from a driver's inability to shut down a moving vehicle."
- The feds say there will be "little incremental cost" to a vehicle's bottom line beyond "additional software coding."
WASHINGTON — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing a rule that would standardize keyless ignition systems, citing a NASA study following consumer complaints about runaway Toyotas, among other safety-related concerns.
The proposal says it will "reduce the risk that drivers will misuse these new systems" and "reduce crashes, injuries and deaths resulting from a driver's inability to shut down a moving vehicle." The proposed rule was published Monday in the Federal Register.
"At issue are drivers' inability to stop a moving vehicle in a panic situation, and drivers who unintentionally leave the vehicle without the vehicle transmission's being 'locked in park,' or with the engine still running, increasing the chances of vehicle rollaway or carbon monoxide poisoning in an enclosed area," the proposal said.
NHTSA said the proposal was prompted in part by consumer complaints, as well as a NASA recommendation that the federal safety agency "consider regulation of controls for managing safety critical functions."
After NASA's February 2011 technical assessment of Toyota's electronic throttle control systems, NHTSA noted that "keyless ignition systems can exacerbate UA (unintended acceleration) incidents, particularly prolonged incidents involving a stuck accelerator pedal if the driver cannot determine how to shut off the engine quickly."
The NASA study was prompted by the recall of millions of Toyota vehicles, a congressional investigation and a national debate about the nature of crashes of Lexus and Toyota vehicles.
Under the NHTSA proposal, holding the button for half a second would kill the engine.
"The propulsion system must shut down within 1 second of the initial push of the stop control," the proposed rule says.
The rule also proposes that the driver gets an audible warning if he or she tries to shut off the car without first placing the gear selection control in "park." The standardized systems would also get an external alert that the driver and bystanders can hear when the vehicle is not in "park" and the driver exists the vehicle.
NHTSA says it is "addressing an emerging safety issue with non-standardized new technology." It says systems that don't require a physical key to start a car have grown from about 5,000 vehicles in model year 2002 to over 1.2 million in model year 2008.
The feds say there will be "little incremental cost" to a vehicle's bottom line beyond "additional software coding."
Inside Line says: Good idea or unnecessary meddling by the feds?
