Carbon Monoxide: A Danger to the Driver?

Abstract

Peterson and Sabersky¹ measured the concentrations of ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and oxides of nitrogen under standard driving conditions in the Southern California area. They indicate that in an automobile with no inside source of carbon monoxide (CO), the interior concentrations will reflect those on the outside but in a more gradual manner. They did not record the rapid variations and high peaks in the interior that they did when samplings were taken from the outside. They reported that 25 ppm of CO was not often exceeded and the highest concentration of CO encountered was 45 ppm for a period of 3 min.