Deaths from motor-vehicle-related unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning--Colorado, 1996, New Mexico, 1980-1995, and United States, 1979-1992.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless, toxic gas that is a product of incomplete combustion. Motor vehicles, heaters, and appliances that use carbon-based fuels are the main sources of this poison. Most fatal unintentional CO poisonings associated with motor vehicles are preventable and can result from differing mechanisms of exposure; 1) operation of a motor vehicle with a damaged or malfunctioning exhaust system and an inadequately ventilated passenger compartment, 2) operation of a motor vehicle in an enclosed space (e.g., a garage) with inadequate ventilation, and 3) use of auxiliary fuel-burning heaters inside a passenger compartment or in a camper. This report describes the investigation of deaths associated with multiple motor-vehicle-related CO poisonings in Colorado on November 3, 1996, summarizes a review of such deaths in New Mexico during 1980-1995, and presents geographic and seasonal patterns in national death rates for 1979-1992. These findings indicate that deaths from motor-vehicle-related unintentional CO poisonings increase during winter months and that death rates from CO poisoning in stationary motor vehicles are highest in states with colder average winter temperatures.