Quote:
Originally Posted by nextcar
Carbon monoxide is nasty stuff - and it used to be present in car exhaust in sufficient quantity that it became a relatively common suicide method - you could idle your car in your garage and "shuffle off these mortal coils" in under an hour. Likewise it was possible to have a leaky exhaust system inadvertently kill a cars occupants if they parked with the engine on (like making out in a car on a snowy night).
Modern car pollution control systems and catalytic converters have practically eliminated it from car exhaust (if they are working properly).
Most recent accounts of in car deaths that occur in garages are actually suffocation - the running engine consumes free oxygen and converts it to carbon dioxide - and does not leave enough oxygen for you to survive or malfunctioning exhaust systems. But as Tcoat mentions - it takes a confined space that is sealed pretty well and in takes far longer to suffocate in this manner. There are instances of failed suicides where the cars actually run out of gas before they kill the occupant.
Carbon dioxide is odorless too - and taking a whiff of a modern, unmodified car's exhaust is completely like sniffing the fumes from a carburated, non-catted car from the 60s or 70s.
And for the lawyers: "Do not attempt this at home", "sniffing exhaust fumes can be dangerous", "pollution control devices can malfunction", "seek help if you are depressed".... and I took this thread  |
Anything over 10PPM of CO can cause health effects.
Anything over 150PPM can kill you.
Modern cars with properly working cats still put out around 1,000PPM
Although this is far better than the 80,000 to 100,000PPM that the old cars put out it is still lethal.
You will die from CO poisoning in an enclosed space well before you will suffocate from burning up the available oxygen.
https://www.abe.iastate.edu/extensio...rages-aen-207/