Here it is against the law to let a car run without someone in it.Originally Posted by Frank Pratt
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Here it is against the law to let a car run without someone in it.
[OP]
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My wife has programed the car to fold in the mirrors when the car is locked, so it's quite easy to verify that it's locked.
Assumption is the mother of all screw ups
Anonyms
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In colder climates it can be a matter of safety to let the engine run a couple of minutes so the defroster will function. Unfortunately that idea is horribly abused & you see vehicles (mostly pickups) left idling all the time.
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What year? That doesn't work on my 2016.
We went crazy the first time on vacation, because GF couldn't leave her purse (with the spare fob) in the trunk. Ended up having to get one of those Faraday-cage pouches to keep the spare in.
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"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
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Imagine if the fob battery happened to die while you were driving on the freeway. The net result would be the same as if the fob wasn’t present. I personally would prefer that my car not shut off when I’m cruising along at 65+mph.
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On my Jeep using the remote to start the car locks the doors. If the door is opened then the car still cannot be driven until the keyfob is in the car and the operator manually presses the start button.
Besides warming the engine starting remotely when cold outside also turns on the seat heat. I don't use the remote start much but I do occasionally in our freezing winters. You know, when the temperature gets down below 40.
Last edited by John K Jordan; 04-01-2019 at 10:01 PM.
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Mine's a 2013 & you can't lock the fob in the truck either.
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That's a good point.
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The control software could easily keep the engine running if the vehicle is in motion or just running at the time the keyfob battery died, not disabling it until the vehicle is stopped and turned off. It could display the problem and a warning to replace the battery before the next time the engine needs to be started.
The owner could keep a spare battery in the vehicle.
But my experience is the battery loses power slowly, first evident by the need to get closer to the vehicle to unlock it. At that point we replace the batteries.
EDIT: Now that I think of it with our two cars that use these keys nothing happens if the key dies while driving. The engine does not stop. You could throw the fob out the window and the engine will still run fine. On one car there is no indication the key is missing; on the other car there is an annoying and persistent beep. That beep would alert you to stop somewhere and get a new battery. (The batteries in our last for years.)
JKJ
Last edited by John K Jordan; 04-02-2019 at 6:11 PM.
Moderator
Remote start systems provide what you want without endangering the vehicle to drive offs...while the engine is running, the vehicle cannot be moved/put in Drive without the fob present and in most cases, a second push of the start button on the dash to fully start the vehicle's electrical systems. Remote start also generally locks the vehicle at the same time as the remote start. Some systems turn the vehicle off when the driver's door is unlocked and opened (our 2016 Subaru Outback Limited with Eyesight); others do not shut down (my preference) but require the second soft-start. (my 2012 Grand Cherokee Overland Summit that I just sold) The new Subaru Ascent Touring I have on order has an updated remote start system that doesn't shut down when the driver door is unlocked but like the Jeep, requires a soft-start with the fob present in order to drive off.
Last edited by Jim Becker; 04-02-2019 at 11:26 AM.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
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It would seem to me that the logical solution would be to require the fob in the car to shift the transmission out of park.
Moderator
That's the way my Jeep Cherokee works. If the engine is running you can't shift the transmission out of Park unless you have the keyfob inside and push the button on the dash.
Contributor
Another fun thing to consider with keyless car systems is that there is now a two-person hack that uses two devices to boost your fob's signal to gain access to the car. It works by having one crook stand near you (presumably with your fob in your pocket), and another near the car. The one near the car has a device which can imitate the car's signal it sends to the key fob to see if it's in range, only amplified quite a bit. The guy standing near you has a corresponding receiver; it fools the fob into thinking it's near the car, and so the fob responds with the correct code. This is received by the device near the car, which passes it to the car, which then unlocks (and can also start! -- though one wouldn't be able to restart it after going any distance).
See here for details: https://hackernoon.com/signal-amplif...a-609ce6c20d4f
So now you can buy RFID-shielding key fob wallets to hide your fob in when you're not using it. Sort of defeats the convenience of keyless entry/ignition, though. Apparently car-makers could fix this vulnerability by making the timing more critical, but their current response is to pretend that this vulnerability does not exist.
Edit: just noticed there is an entire current thread devoted to this topic. Sorry for the noise.
Last edited by Phil Stone; 04-03-2019 at 7:42 PM.
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Why would a RFID shielding key fob wallet defeat the convenience?
Contributor
Cause then you've gotta get it out of your pocket & then out of the wallet.
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