On 6/10/2013 1:59 PM, Robert Green wrote:

Americans over the age of 65 are one of the groups at greatest risk of
dying in a fire. On average, more than 900 Americans age 65 and over die in
fires. People over the age of 85 die in fires at a rate five times higher
than the rest of the population. However, there are a number of
precautionary steps older Americans can take to dramatically reduce their
chances of becoming a fire casualty . . . Cooking accidents are the leading
cause of fire related injuries for older Americans. The kitchen is one of
the most active and potentially dangerous rooms in the home.

I think the reason that you don't see auto-shut-offs on cook tops is
that appliance manufacturers don't want consumers using such a device as
a timer rather than as a fail-safe shut-off. There would almost
certainly be liability issues the first time someone had a fire and
insisted that the auto-shut-off timer should have prevented it.

The motion sensor device to shut off the electricity after a short
period of time does make some sense because it requires that the stove
top be attended. A 15 minute manual timer connected to a relay that's
connected to the cook top power would also be okay because it would
constantly have to be reset. Ovens are less of an issue if it's left on
unattended because a fire is much less likely.