Keyless Ignition – Voyomotive Introduces New Warning Feature to Prevent Drivers From Leaving Cars With Engine Running
Voyomotive today announced the addition of the ‘Engine On’ warning to its Lookout Alerts, a unique safety feature in the VOYO App that sends notices to a user’s cell phone. Lookout Alerts are issued when a vehicle has been left in a hazardous condition, driven unsafely or experienced a malfunction.
As recently published in a story by the New York Times, keyless ignition systems present a significant risk for drivers to accidently leave their vehicles without shutting off the engine. There have been 28 documented deaths and 45 injuries due to carbon monoxide poisoning from drivers leaving their engines on. As no federal agency tracks injuries and deaths for such cases, these figures likely do not reflect the total number of emission related casualties.
In preliminary testing, Voyomotive found that over a 1-month period up to 3% of cars with keyless ignition had the engine left on by the driver. Now, drivers using the VOYO App will receive an Engine On Alert when they walk away from the car without shutting off the engine. Alerts are sent to the driver by SMS, email or within the VOYO app and can also be made available to multiple parties such as family members or fleet managers. The alert data includes the time of the event, identity of the driver and the vehicle’s location.
Additional Lookout Alerts include warnings on speeding, low tire pressure, hard braking, vehicle swerving, and activation of safety systems such as ABS and stability control. In an upcoming app release, Voyomotive plans to add alerts for head lights left on, dome lights left on, door/trunk left open, and power accessory mode status.
“While some recent models of cars may issue an audible noise when the vehicle has been left in an unsafe condition, the driver is left guessing on the nature of the problem or corrective action to take. All too often, these audible alerts are ignored.” said Peter Yorke, CEO of Voyomotive. “Lookout Alerts address the problem by sending a warning with an exact description of the issue to a driver’s mobile phone.”
VOYO is a plug and play controller that is connected to the OBD-II port of a vehicle present on all cars built in the US since 1996. VOYO is unique in its ability to monitor up to 100 advanced parameters on a vehicle and can conduct an advanced diagnostic analysis equivalent to a professional scan tool. VOYO uses Bluetooth low energy to connect to the VOYO App running on a cell phone which exchanges information with the Voyomotive Cloud. Engine On Alerts are issued when the Bluetooth signal is interrupted while VOYO detects that the engine is still running. The VOYO App sends a notification to the Voyomotive Cloud which subsequently sends alerts to recipients assigned by the VOYO account administrator.
About Voyomotive – The World’s Most Advanced Connected Car Platform
Headquartered in San Francisco, with a research and development facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Voyomotive is bringing the world’s most advanced connected car technology to market. In addition to its consumer product, VOYO, the Company offers the Passport controller which supports an embedded cellular modem to address the needs of the commercial market and fleets. To learn more about the ways Voyomotive technology increases vehicle safety, security and convenience, please visit https://www.voyomotive.com/lookout/.
