Carbon Monoxide in Vehicles on Campuses: A Hidden Transportation Safety Risk

Across the United States, students have been found unconscious or deceased inside vehicles on or near school campuses due to carbon monoxide poisoning. These incidents often occur quietly, without alarms, without witnesses, and without any visible warning signs, until it is too late.

Transportation-related carbon monoxide exposure remains one of the least discussed and least understood campus safety risks, despite being highly preventable.

How Carbon Monoxide Builds Up Inside Vehicles

Carbon monoxide is produced whenever fuel is burned. In vehicles, that fuel may be gasoline, diesel, propane, or natural gas. Under normal conditions, exhaust systems carry CO away from the passenger cabin. When something goes wrong, the buildup can be rapid and deadly.

CO can accumulate inside vehicles when exhaust systems are damaged, corroded, or improperly repaired; when tailpipes are blocked by snow, debris, or mud; when vehicles idle for extended periods; or when ventilation systems pull exhaust back into the cabin. Aftermarket modifications and aging components can further increase risk.

Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, and invisible. Inside a vehicle, dangerous concentrations can build up in minutes due to the small space and high concentration, particularly when occupants are distracted, resting, or unaware of early symptoms.

Transportation Risks Unique to College Campuses

College campuses create a unique mix of transportation-related CO risks.

Students often sit in parked vehicles to warm up, charge phones, talk between classes, or wait late at night. Dormitories and residence halls are frequently located near parking areas. Campus shuttles, buses, and service vehicles may idle near housing, dining halls, or academic buildings. Winter weather increases both idling time and the likelihood of exhaust system failure. Construction zones bring temporary fuel-powered equipment close to occupied spaces.

In some cases, students are inside vehicles on campus-owned property. In others, incidents occur in personal vehicles parked on or adjacent to campus. Regardless of ownership, the exposure happens within the campus environment and often within the institution’s sphere of influence.

The Reality of Student Vehicles: Often Older, Cheaper, and Less Inspected

Many college and high school students are not driving new vehicles. They are driving what they can afford, or what has been passed down to them.

That often means older cars with high mileage, hand-me-downs with unknown maintenance histories, ignored check engine lights, and exhaust systems that have never been inspected. In addition, some students live in states that do not require regular vehicle inspections, and repairs are frequently delayed due to cost.

A small exhaust leak or failing catalytic converter may not be loud or obvious, but it can allow carbon monoxide to seep directly into the cabin. CO does not wait for a convenient moment, and it does not care about good intentions.

When Personal Vehicles Become the Danger: The Students Behind the Statistics

Transportation-related carbon monoxide poisonings are often discussed in abstract terms: exhaust leaks, idling vehicles, and mechanical failure. But behind every incident is a story of people, families, and futures cut short.

Fort Lewis College, Colorado: Two Sisters, First-Generation Students

In October 2022, sisters Shavon Nez (18) and Kylah Nez (19) were found inside a car parked on the campus of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Both young women were first-generation college students from Thoreau, New Mexico.

Investigators later determined the vehicle had an unknown exhaust leak, allowing carbon monoxide to accumulate inside the cabin. To confirm the source, a fire department placed a CO detector inside the car with the heater running. In less than three minutes, the detector registered 441 parts per million, a level capable of causing severe poisoning and death.

Kylah was pronounced dead shortly after being found. Shavon was transported to the hospital in critical condition and passed away days later.

They were not engaged in risky behavior. They were sitting in a parked car on campus—unaware that the air had become lethal.

Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio: A Young Couple

In January 2026, Luke Reimer and Mary Mich, who had recently celebrated their first anniversary as a couple, were found deceased inside a vehicle parked outside St. Agnes Residence Hall at Franciscan University.

The Jefferson County Coroner confirmed their deaths were accidental and caused by carbon monoxide poisoning related to a vehicle exhaust leak. The exposure occurred in a campus parking lot, adjacent to student housing, without any warning system to alert them.

Campus events were canceled in mourning, but the loss was irreversible.

Campus Transit, School Buses, and Team Travel: When the Ride Itself Becomes the Risk

Carbon monoxide exposure on campuses does not stop with personal vehicles, nor does it only occur on college campuses. School buses, campus transit vehicles, and team travel vans have repeatedly been the source of CO poisonings, often affecting multiple students at once.

In April 2023, seven students in Rowan County, North Carolina, were treated after becoming ill on a school bus returning from Hanford Dole Elementary School. The bus ultimately pulled over at a fire department, where firefighters assisted the driver and students. Hospitalization followed.

In November 2025, a Massachusetts school district narrowly avoided tragedy when 33 students were believed to have been exposed to carbon monoxide on a Paxton Center School bus. Students reported symptoms during their morning trip, prompting the fire department to call for a mass-casualty response. While no students required hospital care, the scale of the response underscored how quickly a transportation-related CO event can escalate. Officials later cited a possible mechanical issue with the braking system.

Transportation-related CO exposure also affects athletic and extracurricular travel. In October 2013, members of a Connecticut junior varsity girls soccer team were treated for possible carbon monoxide exposure after traveling on a team bus to an away game. At least eight students and one adult were taken to hospitals: not while on the bus itself, but after symptoms appeared during the game.

These cases reveal a dangerous pattern: students often become the first indicators of a problem, reporting symptoms only after exposure has already occurred.

Why Transit-Related CO Exposure Is Especially Dangerous

Carbon monoxide exposure on buses and vans presents unique risks. Vehicles carry high occupant loads, limit immediate escape options, and often lack any form of CO detection. Symptoms may be subtle or delayed, and drivers may not experience symptoms at the same rate as students.

Unlike buildings, most buses and vans are not equipped with carbon monoxide alarms. Detection relies on human symptoms, which means exposure has already happened.

Responsibility is often fragmented. School districts may own some vehicles and contract others. Colleges may operate shuttles but outsource team travel. Rental companies provide vans with varying maintenance standards. This fragmentation creates gaps in accountability—yet the impact remains the same.

What Role Do Campuses Play in Vehicle CO Safety?

Most campuses do not inspect student-owned vehicles, and they are not typically required to. But institutions still influence risk through parking design, idling policies, placement of residence halls, operation of campus fleets, and the safety information shared with students.

Carbon monoxide education is rarely included in student orientation or campus safety programming. Vehicle-related CO risks are often absent from transportation policies. Incidents are underreported or framed as vague “medical emergencies” rather than poisonings.

Transportation safety on campus cannot stop at seatbelts and crosswalks. Carbon monoxide belongs in that conversation.

How Portable CO Detectors Can Save Lives

Until awareness, vehicle standards, and policies catch up, portable carbon monoxide detection devices offer a practical layer of protection.

These small, affordable monitors can alert occupants to rising CO levels inside vehicles before symptoms escalate. For students driving older vehicles, living in colder climates, or spending time in parked cars, portable CO detection can mean the difference between early escape and tragedy.

Students should not bear the full burden of safety, but these tools provide meaningful protection in an environment where risk is often invisible.

What Needs to Change

Transportation-related carbon monoxide poisonings highlight broader gaps in campus safety: lack of CO education, inconsistent idling policies, no guidance on vehicle-related risks, and overreliance on chance rather than prevention.

These injuries and deaths are not unavoidable. They are the result of gaps in awareness, systems, and education.

Moving Forward

Carbon monoxide exposure does not only happen in boiler rooms or dormitories. It happens in cars, buses, vans, and shuttles, often silently, often unnoticed.

As campuses continue to evaluate student safety through a public-health lens, transportation-related CO exposure must be part of the conversation. Awareness, policy, and simple preventive tools can save lives.

No student should lose their life sitting in a parked car.