Bill To Stop Keyless Ignitions From Killing Drivers

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After having a Camry hybrid, I can see how it could easily happen on some cars that are keyless. It's not just about forgetting to shut it off, but did it shut off? I've had it happen. It's much harder to forget when you actually have to use a key. Another issue can be remote starters. I've had my car randomly start up before which is bad too. Probably from having the fob in my pocket.
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Sherman
... I'm not a fan of these pushbutton cars. I've driven a Prius and it's easy to forget to push the button to turn it off before getting out, especially since the engine may not be running.
Yes, aggravated by the fact the dash display is barely visible on a sunny day if you're wearing sunglasses, so you might not notice it is still lit. I've only forgotten to shut the system down a couple of times so far, both when I was stressed and distracted about something unrelated to the car. Both times were outside on a sunny day, not in a garage.
 
TOO much useless + unneeded technology is todays cars runs up the price + keeps me driving older rides!!
 
Darned right. Yet another set of complicated technical solutions to problems that never existed in the first place. It s too bad this sort of stuff has gotten so for out of hand. It does nothing but add multiple points of failure to a starting system and add cost; and for what a few simple bells and whistle
 
People broke their arms using the hand crank starter.

People left their keys in the car with the engine running and the doors locked.

This is not an emergency and we don't need protection from the G. People need to use common sense and pay attention.
 
Originally Posted by dbias
Only car I have to worry about is the Civic as it is the only one with remote start. VW/Audi do not come with remote start idk why but no you can't order remote start on a 50k Audi.


Mercedes was the same way for several years. Just the way their system was designed and how difficult it is to get keys. Even the dealer can't make you keys, you have to show up and they get ordered from Texas and you get them in a few days. Only in the last couple of years has MB offered a remote start feature.

Remote start is different that push button start though.

Originally Posted by Driz
Darned right. Yet another set of complicated technical solutions to problems that never existed in the first place. It s too bad this sort of stuff has gotten so for out of hand. It does nothing but add multiple points of failure to a starting system and add cost; and for what a few simple bells and whistle


I have it in both cars and it's a fun option to have. The more options the merrier.

Life's too short to drive a boring car?
 
Ban the immobilizer and ban push button give me my [censored] key, in my one car everything works fine but the immobilizer crapped out, massive pain to fix

On my other car my fob battery dies every couple months causing irritation,
if I want to shut off the car I don't want to hold the brake 5 seconds to tap the button

Unnecessary cost and complexity to drive a new expensive part to fail, turning a key wasn't that [censored] hard
 
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Ban the immobilizer and ban push button give me my [censored] key, in my one car everything works fine but the immobilizer crapped out, massive pain to fix

On my other car my fob battery dies every couple months causing irritation,
if I want to shut off the car I don't want to hold the brake 5 seconds to tap the button

Unnecessary cost and complexity to drive a new expensive part to fail, turning a key wasn't that [censored] hard


Yes it is, it takes a few second to dig it out of your pocket and put it in the ignition. Saves about 5 seconds. Probably wasted a bunch typing.

Basically press the button on the exterior of the car, get in, put your foot on the brake and tap the button to start. There's never a long crank or short crank, it just cranks it enough automatically to start every time.

Mine shuts off easily, all you have to is tap the button. But it's smart in that it won't do it if you're in drive. Only shuts off if you're in park.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
People broke their arms using the hand crank starter.

People left their keys in the car with the engine running and the doors locked.

This is not an emergency and we don't need protection from the G. People need to use common sense and pay attention.

+100.
 
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Ban the immobilizer and ban push button give me my [censored] key, in my one car everything works fine but the immobilizer crapped out, massive pain to fix

On my other car my fob battery dies every couple months causing irritation,
if I want to shut off the car I don't want to hold the brake 5 seconds to tap the button

Unnecessary cost and complexity to drive a new expensive part to fail, turning a key wasn't that [censored] hard


Yes it is, it takes a few second to dig it out of your pocket and put it in the ignition. Saves about 5 seconds. Probably wasted a bunch typing.

Basically press the button on the exterior of the car, get in, put your foot on the brake and tap the button to start. There's never a long crank or short crank, it just cranks it enough automatically to start every time.

Mine shuts off easily, all you have to is tap the button. But it's smart in that it won't do it if you're in drive. Only shuts off if you're in park.


How much time does replacing the fob battery ever 2-3 months save?
 
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
. . .

How much time does replacing the fob battery ever 2-3 months save?

I only had to replace the fob battery for my 2004 Prius ONCE between 2006 when I got the car and this year when I retired it. . . I swapped the two fobs every 6-12 months or so, which certainly helped, but I (or my son during the brief time he use the car) drove the car every day, with very occasional exceptions.
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I'm lukewarm on the whole pushbutton start thing. None of the three Toyota hybrids I've had (two Prii and a Camry hybrid) had the remote start feature, which is good, since that's the only feature I firmly DON'T want anything to do with.

As for the rest, again, lukewarm. The one part I really do like is that the system makes it virtually impossible to lock the keys inside the car. The sensors are good enough that they just won't lock the doors if the fob is inside the car.

I said "virtually" since I got curious one time, started thinking (often very dangerous. . . ), and did some experimenting. Here's what you do if you REALLY want to lock your keys in a Prius: Fold the rear seat down. Get in the car and lock the doors. Turn the car OFF if it's not already so. Climb through/over the front seats into the back seat/under hatch area. Use the manual emergency hatch release to open the hatch from the inside. Climb out the back, and close hatch. Presto, you've just locked your keys in the car. See, we humans are still smarter than our cars!
laugh.gif


UPDATE: I did this trick on the old Prius years ago, and it worked "like a charm" (assuming locking the keys in the car is somehow "charming"). It's a quiet day, so I decided to go try it on the new Prius. And guess what -- it doesn't work!!! I climbed out the hatch, shut it, and the car let out a loud, long beeeeep, and then unlocked all the doors. I guess I'd have to disconnect the 12v battery to "succeed" in this experiment -- something I'm not going to do. Oh well... Not feeling so smart now.
frown.gif
 
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Ban the immobilizer and ban push button give me my [censored] key, in my one car everything works fine but the immobilizer crapped out, massive pain to fix

On my other car my fob battery dies every couple months causing irritation,
if I want to shut off the car I don't want to hold the brake 5 seconds to tap the button

Unnecessary cost and complexity to drive a new expensive part to fail, turning a key wasn't that [censored] hard


Yes it is, it takes a few second to dig it out of your pocket and put it in the ignition. Saves about 5 seconds. Probably wasted a bunch typing.

Basically press the button on the exterior of the car, get in, put your foot on the brake and tap the button to start. There's never a long crank or short crank, it just cranks it enough automatically to start every time.

Mine shuts off easily, all you have to is tap the button. But it's smart in that it won't do it if you're in drive. Only shuts off if you're in park.


How much time does replacing the fob battery ever 2-3 months save?


I end up replacing mine every 4-5 months. Takes a few seconds, I'm getting pretty good at taking them apart and I've got 4 key fobs to replace the battery on. The difference is that when you're replacing the battery, you do it at your leisure, usually you just want to hop in the car and go.

As for the guy who wants to lock his keys in the car, yes mine is pretty smart about that too. The way to do it is to put the key in a faraday cage. Those anti-static bags also sometimes work to do the same thing. Or try wrapping it in aluminium foil.
 
Originally Posted by ekpolk
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
. . .

How much time does replacing the fob battery ever 2-3 months save?

I only had to replace the fob battery for my 2004 Prius ONCE between 2006 when I got the car and this year when I retired it. . . I swapped the two fobs every 6-12 months or so, which certainly helped, but I (or my son during the brief time he use the car) drove the car every day, with very occasional exceptions.
21.gif



Yeah, this seems nuts. My Jeep is 3 years old now, original fob batteries, I think we had to have them replaced once in the Expedition ones? And it was a 2002.
 
Originally Posted by Rmay635703


How much time does replacing the fob battery ever 2-3 months save?


I've NEVER had my fob batteries fail in 2-3 months.
 
So, yesterday I am coming from gym and entering building where I work and see bosses car idling. I am like: hmm, maybe he forgot something so just went up to pick it up, though still does not make sense. I took shower in basement of our building, getting out to drop bag in my car and see car is still idling, Dodge Charger 3.6 V6.
I instantly remembered this topic. So I go up and explain him this new law that is proposed and he is looking at me like: why in the world I should know that? I said: in your case might be handy since your car is idling outside. It was idling from 6.30am until I told him around 10am.
 
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Yeah, this seems nuts. My Jeep is 3 years old now, original fob batteries, I think we had to have them replaced once in the Expedition ones? And it was a 2002.

I've done it twice on the G since I got it. I hardly ever use the remote, and just use the tap functions on the car itself. I wished they lasted a bit longer, but the replacement only takes a few seconds, really.
 
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