A warning about keyless ignitions

"It's like a bad dream that you just don't want to wake up from", Tim Maddock is living that nightmare. For 2 years he and Chasity Glisson were a couple, "She's the only girl I let into my kids lives." But on a rainy summer night in August of 2010 Tim and Chasity's love affair stopped, after her cars engine didn't, "I heard her collapse on the floor in the bathroom."

The next day 29 year old Chasity was found dead in her Boca Raton townhome, Tim was clinging to life. A Sheriff's investigation revealed the couple was poisoning by carbon monoxide, after Chasity accidentally left her keyless Lexus running in the garage, "This whole thing as been a really tough experience for me."

Keyless ignition, or Smart Key Technology, allows drivers to start and stop their engine with the push of a button. The problem, without a physical key, drivers aren't always remembering to press the off button, and it doesn't take long for the poison to build. Since 2010 at least three people have died from carbon monoxide linked to keyless ignition cars, including Chasity Glisson.

Attorney Robert Kelly, who represents Tim and Chasity's families in lawsuits they're planning to file, warns this widespread problem needs an industry wide fix, "Automobile manufacturers need to design for that. They're the ones that came up with this system right? It's there invention, they're trying to sell more cars, well, make them safe."

Since 2005 at least a dozen similar complaints about keyless cars have been reported to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Six years later the feds are responding, saying they're "looking into whether or not these systems need to be standardized."

Among key safety concerns, carbon monoxide poisoning. Too late for Chasity Glisson, "If you want to have the keyless entry, fine, but make sure some precautions that if someone makes a mistake and leaves it running that it's going to shut off eventually.

The company stands by it's design, saying "Toyota's electronic key system fully complies with applicable Federal motor vehicle standards and provides multiple layers of visual and auditory warnings to alert occupants that the vehicle is running when the driver exits with the key fob."