For cars with key less entry.
I recall couple of years back Top Gear demonstrated that car will start and drive off for some distance until it realizes key is missing and at that point it would stop.
However, what I heard from most people is that cars can be driven without limit once the car detects key and starts the engine. So, one can leave the key at home, and travel 100 miles without problem (as long as engine not stalled/switched off). The key will be required only when engine is stopped and needs to be started again.
There will a symbol in dashboard to indicate car can't detect key.
So, if there is a busy roundabout near your house and you forgot key and stalled the car, you have to leave the car there and walk back home to bring the key.
I am still convinced that key less entry system doesn't solve any problem but brings a lot of new problems!
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>> However, what I heard from most people is that cars can be driven without limit
>> once the car detects key and starts the engine. So, one can leave the key
>> at home, and travel 100 miles without problem
So what do you do, start the car with the key in proximity, then get out and post it back through your letter box?
Hardly likely is it.
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Probably not for a solo driver, but it's easy to imagine a situation where drivers A and B each have a key, but when they go out together A (driving) has left her key at home but the car starts because B is carrying his. Trouble is, A then drops B at the station and continues on to work.
It would make sense if the same sensors that won't lock the car with the key inside gave an immediate and unignorable warning at this point, but I'm not sure that's what happens.
I'm with Movi; you still need to know where the key is, so it may as well be in the slot in the dashboard as anywhere else.
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We did that when I had the Scenic.
I was going to the pub so I drove the car with my missus as a passenger. I got out, left engine running and disappeared into pub. She drove away and it was only then that she noticed the warning of key not detected.
She was then faced with the issue of either driving home and hoping not to stall, or to come back to where she dropped me and sit with engine running and hope to get me on my phone to come back.
As she is a woman, she just turned up the radio, ignored the warning light, and drove home!
My current Hyundai has keyless entry but is very quick to tell you if key has left the car while engine running with lots of bongs and bleeps. I still don't understand how it can be so accurate with the car being inside or outside the door. Even with the door open it seems to know exactly when you have passed the threshold.
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>> So what do you do, start the car with the key in proximity, then get out and post it back through your letter box?
I'm sure I'm not the only one not to keep his house keys on the same keyring as the car keys.
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>> I'm sure I'm not the only one not to keep his house keys on the
>> same keyring as the car keys.
That's the thing, isn't it? You sensibly identified something you will always have with you and attach the proximity device to that. However I have been known to go out without my house keys.
The ideal solution must be a token that has to be used, not just carried, by a driver or passenger. Like a key; although whether it is a mechanical lock doesn't matter much.
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>> However I have been known to go out
>> without my house keys.
but never been known to get back in again.
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>>
>> >> However I have been known to go out
>> >> without my house keys.
>>
>> but never been known to get back in again.
>>
Quite easily if there is someone still in the house, I seemed to spend a lot of time opening the door to my kids when they lived at home when they had forgotten their house keys.
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So the worry is that you will go out to the car, get in, start it, go back in the house, leave the keys in the house and drive off?
Really?
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>> So the worry is that you will go out to the car, get in, start
>> it, go back in the house, leave the keys in the house and drive off?
I can quite easily imagine a certain special someone in my life doing this.
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>> I'm sure I'm not the only one not to keep his house keys on the same keyring as the car keys.
>>
I'm sure I'm not the only one to keep his house keys on the same keyring as the car keys!
Obvious, innit?
You can't lock yourself out of the house, or out of the car. If you've got the keys with you, you can get in anywhere.
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SQ 4 LB
>> You can't lock yourself out of the house, or out of the car. If you've
>> got the keys with you, you can get in anywhere.
You're obviously one of those glass-half-full types.
I'd be thinking that if I locked the keys in the car, I'd be locked out of home as well. And the reverse if I went out, shut the door (with night latch) and left the keys inside.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 27 Aug 15 at 21:19
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Key less entry
Automatic wipers
Automatic headlights
Electric parking brakes
Those VAG fog lights that come on when you're turning a corner - even in the daylight
Only the start of a list of solutions in search of a problem.
8o(
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Our S-Max has key-less go, and it is one option which would stop me from buying a car in future (along with cans of gunk instead of a spare wheel). We have nearly been caught out as Movi says so many times that I'm sure we will be caught out one day! There is no warning if the key strays from the car once the engine is running, and the cars are apparently more vulnerable to being stolen. What's wrong with a normal key?
I read that all new-shape S-Maxes come with keyless-go, which will rule out repeat trade for Ford from us.
Last edited by: Boxsterboy on Thu 27 Aug 15 at 12:28
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I love keyless entry, auto wipers, auto lights.
Not sure about VAG corner lights or electronic parking brakes.
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Harley Electra Glides for many years had an ignition switch which you unlocked and then took the key out again to operate. This was fine until they introduced locking fuel caps as well; I once went out for a ride at a rally in Winchester, inadvertently left my bunch of keys in my tent, and had to be rescued by a fellow club member when I stopped for petrol near Beaulieu and realised I couldn't fill up and furthermore didn't have enough fuel to get back to the campsite. Took me some years to live it down.
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Auto-wipers are entirely good, especially the BMW version that uses a microswitch that resets to off with the ignition, so there's no danger of an inadvertent wipe on a frosted screen. (Would be nice if the indicator light wasn't hidden behind the steering wheel, but I'm being super-picky now.)
MB fits 'cornering lights' too, and while they give the front fog lamps something to do (although not with the fog bulbs, I think) I've never seen something illuminated by them and thought, good job - I'd have missed that otherwise.
Auto-lights? Mixed feelings. The MB version is useful idiot-proofing that will save me from driving out of a well-lit car park at work with no lights on, but in other situations doesn't put the lights on as early as I would. On the plus side, it doesn't put them on at the slightest provocation, like going under a bridge. BMW's version is more sensitive, so will illuminate on a tree-lined country road; I'd generally approve if the car didn't already have front DRLs that are sufficient in this situation. And once again, the indicator is a tiny green LED next to the rotary switch, not MB's unmissable pictogram in the instrument panel.
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Auto wipers were a pain the other day in spotty rain. I find myself adjusting/nudging them in certain conditions more than I would be tweaking a simple intermittent setting. In proper rain it makes no difference at all. Absolutely, they are a gimmick, and like all gimmicks they have their adherents.
Auto lights ditto really. I had to put mine on manually the other day in heavy rain, and only the bong when I got home stopped me leaving them on, because I am habituated to automatic operation. I'd leave them off and operate them manually all the time, but for the fact that the switch has to pass through the 'auto' position to do it, so the original ideal operation has actually been made more clumsy.
Auto-dimming mirrors - neither here nor there. Not had them for a while, never missed them.
Auto handbrakes - labour saving, but not much, and something else to go wrong.
Hill hold - on both main cars, but useless really - it's never completely certain when it's going to operate on a slight slope anyway, so I always control the car with the footbrake. Even on a steeper slope that the car is guaranteed to detect, it needs deliberate setting by pressing the footbrake, something I never think about. Handy for people who can't drive, except when it doesn't set and then they roll back (because they have never learnt to drive)
Automatic air conditioning - good when it works, which on older cars seems hit and miss and can be very hard to sort out. The Roomster has manual A/C which is surprisingly not a great burden, even after years of the other kind.
Electric roof - ha ha ha. How much money has been wasted on fixing these. No wonder so many of their owners drive round with the roof up all summer, they are worried that they might not be able to close it.
Basically, I have no problem doing any of these things myself. And I think it probably makes for a more engaged driver.
The 'driver' for these inventions is of course the micro-processor and it's adoption to manage auto electrics. The cost is pretty low for much of it so it's obvious 'value add' territory.
Electric windows I like. I now find non-electric annoying as I can't control them from the driver's seat. I wouldn't mind winding the driver's window, and at least I would be able to get it down in the MX5, whose o/s motor has failed...
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>
>> Auto-dimming mirrors - neither here nor there. Not had them for a while, never missed
>> them.
not had them for 5 years now. Still miss them desperately.
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In my particular implementation of the mentioned gadgetry (VW Golf GTD)
auto wipers and lights - I like them no real downside to them since they can be turned on/off manually if that's what you prefer
VAG corner lights - why not?anything that draws someone's attention to my car turning a corner has to make things safer, doesn't it?
Electronic parking brake, having used it for more than a year now, I like it, in our case it avoids the situation where I park the car, put the handbrake on and wife has difficulty releasing it when she takes the car out, only downside I can see is if it goes wrong.
Basically, I am quite happy with all sorts of "gadgets" in a car, including adaptive cruise control, start/stop tyre pressure monitoring etc., and reckon most automotive progress is a good thing.
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Key less entry
Automatic wipers
Automatic headlights
Electric parking brakes
Hmm,
Keyless entry - yup, got that, no doors either...
Automatic wipers - Wipers? What are they? Don't have a windscreen to wipe anyway
Automatic headlights - Got a nice switch, that'll do me
Electric parking brakes - Er no, but the front brakes have a super crude ratchet.
There's a lot to be said for simple vintage cars. Whenever you showed a new fangled gadget to my father he always took the attitude it was something else to go wrong.
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The R Type Bentley didn't have an ignition key as such. It had a big switch that turned the ignition on and a keyhole next to it that could be used to make the switch immovable. Everything was big and strong. To actually start the engine, you turned the ignition on and pressed a big chrome button to operate the starter.
The thing was so quiet though that I once left it idling for four hours when distracted by something or other. I treated that poor jalopy disgracefully, and so did other people. Toerags tried to get in by putting a pipe on the door handle for extra leverage, twisting the spindle and leaving the handle at the wrong angle. I left a door unlocked once and came back to find a wandering derelict chap peacefully asleep in the back. To my relief he didn't insist on staying but did a runner at the sight of me.
The peculiar arrangements favoured by RR meant that it was possible to use the car without even having a key. I once drove half way along the Marylebone Rd with my entire bunch of keys hanging from the n/s passenger door, until a black-cab driver pointed them out to me in tones of sarcastic contempt.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 27 Aug 15 at 14:56
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>> Whenever you showed a new fangled gadget to my father he always took the attitude it was something else to go wrong.
Sensible cat. I think like that too.
A case in point is the jalopy's remote key fob thing, which although damaged and filthy will still work I think, when I can be bothered to open it without cutting myself, obtain the correct large watch battery and lever it into place.
I can lock the car and lock the driver's door with the key. But opening it with the key gives you about ten seconds before the car starts shouting for help in a most embarrassing way... you have to whip the door open, put the key in the ignition and turn it before the clamour starts. If it's in a bad mood it flashes all four signal lights as well.
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Strange that they thought a PT Cruiser needed a deterrent to thieves - or that someone who'd decided to steal one would be embarrassed by a bit of squealing and a few flashing lights.
}:---)
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Aaaah shaddap WDB, much underrated jalopy in real life. Comfortable with the usual amenities and grey leather seats adjustable in all directions.
Anyone would like a snorting monster but in real life not everyone can afford one, nor in real life is one often necessary to, you know, keep up with the traffic. A Cruiser or come to that any damn modern jalopy however small and glamour-free, can cut the mustard twice over in mimsing modern SE England. Yah boo sucks.
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Like the convenience of keyless go - don't have to go routing in suitcase for car keys, just fling the whole thing in the car and drive away. Disadvantage? There's nowhere to put the keys if you don't want them digging you in the leg if they're in your pocket when driving.
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I like the keyless on the Lexus. Usually have my laptop with me during the week so the keys just live in my bag, although I could live without it.
Think it would be pretty difficult to go far without the keys though - as soon as mine leave the car it starts bleeping and comes up with a message to say that the key cant be detected
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I love keyless on the Lexus, I couldn't think of a downside. Then I parked the car outside the MOT station a couple of years ok, chatted to the tester for 30 seconds then wandered off. Ten minutes later I noticed someone kirb-crawling me - a very irate mechanic who wanted the keys so he could drive it into the bay.
The RX doesn't have keyless and I hate that. Climbing in and then trying to find keys in tight jeans, then continually just walking off with the keys in the ignition.
Last edited by: BiggerBadderDave on Fri 28 Aug 15 at 17:10
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The V40 has keyless ignition but not entry. Rather pointless in my opinion. I've done it rather often. When swapping kit from the work truck to my car (having moved the car from the truck's parking spot), leaving it ticking over (Don't panic it's within an NHS secure compound) whilst I park the truck - If I take the keys with me to the truck it chimes and posts a message to tell me that the keys aren't in the car...
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Our 9 year old Audi A8 says "Key not in vehicle" warning message and pictogram and is prominent and accompanied by an audible alarm, there is no problem of forgetting other than for a second or two. Any other way would be a poor implementation.
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I had a Mazda6 2013/2014 as a demo for a few days. It had keyless entry and start.
I'd had a look under the bonnet earlier in the day so when I'd gone out for a drive I noticed it was not properly fastened (and it took some effort to sort it! not so good build quality!).
When I got out the car immediately started chiming to tell me I had the key and was getting out. But it triangulated where the key was to know which door or the boot would allow keyless opening too.
If you stood at the drivers door, the boot could not be unlocked for example.
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>> I had a Mazda6 2013/2014 as a demo for a few days
>> I noticed it was not properly fastened (and it took some effort to sort it! not so good build quality!).
Did it have two bonnet catches near the headlights, rather than one central one? A lot of the new cars I deliver are so designed, apparently to protect pedestrians' fleshy bits as you run them down.
The bonnet skins are very flexible for the same reason. We have been told to advise drivers that a partially-latched bonnet can easily be dented if leaned on; they should pull the release lever again, open the bonnet properly then slam it shut instead. You can't slam a bonnet too hard or drop it from too great a height, no matter how much it feels wrong to do so.
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>> You
>> can't slam a bonnet too hard or drop it from too great a height, no
>> matter how much it feels wrong to do so.
>>
This works PERFECTLY right up until the day you accidentally leave the old oil filter perched upside-down on top of the engine.
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Tue 1 Sep 15 at 21:30
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...and we still think long oil change intervals are a bad thing?
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>> Did it have two bonnet catches near the headlights, rather than one central one?
I don't know. The problem was it was not fastened properly and could not be opened to close it either. Pulling the release did nothing. So I couldn't slam it shut. So I had to push down on it a few times to shut it.... and the bonnet was a little flimsy but that's crash protection and/or weight saving.
The other problem was the boot release mechanism was unclipped too.
A lot of my feedback on what I didn't like about the Mazda6 seems fixed including the many upgrades to the interior. I might have got one if ordering now. But like the A3 more.
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How far you can drive without the key? - Zero
