Do You Need a Carbon Monoxide Detector in Your Truck Sleeper?

Todd Daum, a CDL-A holder from Cincinnati who also works in fleet safety and is a retired firefighter and EMT, filed a petition with FMCSA. He wants battery-powered CO alarms required in the cab and the sleeper of trucks that have one.

His list doesn't stop at alarms. He also asks for weekly testing, records kept by the carrier, driver training on CO symptoms, regular checks of engine and bunk heater exhaust systems, and a ban on fuel-burning stoves and space heaters inside the truck.

The carrier would also have to keep a record for each truck: what detector is installed, when it was tested and when it was replaced. If an alarm sounds, the driver parks, gets to fresh air and doesn't put the truck back in service until it's towed and cleared for leaks.

It's a petition, not a rule. As of Overdrive's report on 22/10/26, FMCSA hadn't said anything about it. The petition is posted to the federal regulations docket, so anyone can look it up. FMCSA could act on it, change it or let it sit, and nobody knows which yet.

Carbon monoxide has no smell and you can't see it. That's the whole problem when you're asleep. Overdrive's story points to two real examples.

In Washington state in January 2023, investigators found a driver was most likely poisoned by a single-burner butane cooking stove in the truck. And in 2020, a trucker named Scott Carlson said his CO detector may have saved his life after an exhaust leak from a diesel-powered APU.

The petition mentions three trucker deaths in total. That's a small number compared with how many drivers sleep in their trucks every night. The point is that it can happen quietly, in a closed cab, with a stove or a heater running.

That doesn't mean your APU or bunk heater is unsafe. Most of them run fine for years. It just means that if something does go wrong, you're asleep and won't notice, and an alarm is the only thing that can wake you up.

Right now, federal rule 49 CFR 392.66 says you can't operate a truck once carbon monoxide has been detected. But nothing in the federal rules requires a detector in the truck. Daum's argument is that the rule only kicks in after someone is already measuring CO, or already sick.

Your carrier may have its own policy, so it's worth asking whether it supplies alarms, wants you to buy your own, or has rules about stoves and heaters. If you're an owner-operator, that call is all yours.

This is a news summary, not legal advice. For your specific situation, check with FMCSA and your carrier.

Overdrive's article lists headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion and trouble breathing as symptoms. In a sleeper, those can be easy to blame on a long day or a bad night's sleep.

If an alarm goes off, get out into fresh air right away. If you feel any of those symptoms, get emergency medical help. The petition goes one step further and says the truck shouldn't go back in service until it's towed and checked for leaks. That's the petition's proposal, not a current rule, but it's a sensible way to think about it.

The petition asks for vehicle-rated, battery-powered alarms in both the cab and the sleeper, and says the kind you'd buy for a house wouldn't qualify. If you shop for one, read the maker's instructions and follow them for placement and testing.

Daum estimates about $130 to $160 per truck for two units before any fleet discount, with replacement about every five years. Those are his numbers, so prices may differ where you shop.

Treat the alarm like part of your pre-trip. Test it on a schedule and replace it when it fails or when it's due.

If you drive for a company, ask whether the truck you're getting already has one. Some may, some may not. It's a fair question to ask on day one, the same way you'd ask about the condition of the tires or the APU.

A lot of drivers cook in the truck to save money, and that's understandable. But the Washington case is a reminder that anything that burns fuel inside a closed cab puts CO in the air.

Under the petition, butane and propane stoves and space heaters would be banned in the cab, sleeper or trailer. That isn't a rule today. Still, if you use one, ask your carrier what its policy is.

The same goes for heaters. If your truck has a bunk heater or APU, have the exhaust system looked at when it's in the shop, which is one of the things the petition asks carriers to schedule. If you notice a fuel smell, a rattling exhaust or a heater that acts up, tell your shop or dispatch before you sleep in it again.

Nobody wants another rule to deal with, and this one may never happen. But a CO alarm doesn't need a rule to work. It's a small cost compared with what's at stake when you're asleep in a closed cab. Check your heater and APU exhaust when you can, think twice about a stove in the sleeper, and put an alarm in before the temperature drops.