MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- An incident that sent seven people to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning is linked to a popular feature on many new cars - the keyless ignition.
The system has been blamed for carbon monoxide deaths and poisonings in several other states.
According to police, a car was left running in a closed garage overnight, filling the home with the toxic gas. A family of three, and four police officers who rescued them, became seriously ill from exposure to the carbon monoxide.
"This all kind of played out because the male party was unfamiliar with a vehicle," said Major Gerald Childress of the Mooresville Police Department. "It was actually his daughter's vehicle. He had placed that vehicle in the garage."
The car had a push start button, which does not require turning a key in the ignition. The man was not familiar with that kind of technology.
"He thought the vehicle would cut off and it did not," said Childress. "And that was the reason for the carbon monoxide inside the home."
Similar incidents have happened across the country, linking cars with keyless ignitions to several carbon monoxide deaths and injuries.
Tiffany Wright with AAA Carolinas said technology is changing so quickly, it is hard for drivers to keep up.
"Back in the day, you get behind a vehicle and it was the same thing - you turn the key, you start it, here's the park, here's the drive," said Wright. "Nowadays, buttons are all over different places. It's so different right now."
Wright said that is why it is important for drivers to educate themselves and exercise caution when driving unfamiliar cars.
"That's what technology has done, it's kind of taken the thinking and the driver behavior out of the driver," Wright said."But that's what we want to encourage - that it all goes back to driver behavior, regardless of the technology."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed rules that would require uniformity among keyless ignition systems to help prevent incidents like what happened in Mooresville.
The four police officers who were exposed to the carbon monoxide have been released from the hospital.
As of Friday night, the three victims who were in the home are still being treated.