So, here’s one, and maybe they already exist and I just can’t find them, but…

Garage Door opener with an integrated CO (Carbon Monoxide) sensor.

Explanation: Garages house several items that are CO producers in the average house. Gas furnace, gas water heater, CAR! All of these can produce CO if working improperly, and those levels can build up in the space, and then seep into the house.

Why not have a Garage door opener that can sense that, and if the levels rise too high, the opener is triggered, and the door opens. For security purposes, after the level falls again, the door closes. Obviously, an alarm would want to go off along with this to try to alert the home owner to the problem rather than just having the opener cycle open and closed for days. =)

CO has a very similar density to normal “air”, so basically, you just set it to trigger at a low enough concentration so as to evacuate the space before levels reach toxicity. Same as a home CO sensor.

Extra added bonus, it prevents people from using their cars in closed garages to kill themselves (not that I have a problem with suicide, just that it’s kind of a shitty way to do it).

Hell, building code required that they install a CO sensor in my house when they did the heat pump install, why would a garage not be required to have something like this?

I expect royalties if someone invents this… or, at least, credit in a “special thanks to”. Hmmm, maybe this should get posted on “Prototype this”.

BTW, if anyone has known someone that has died from CO poisoning, I sincerely apologize if I have offended.