Intelligent Key - am i missing something

[hfmstretch]

so over the weekend i moved a treadmill in our land cruiser. i was planning to drive my car while the wife drove the land. we both started the cars prepared to head out...when she got in she realized she didnt feel comfortable not being able to see out of the rearview so we switched cars- she drove the m and i drove the land. when i got home i was surprised to see that i still had the intelligent key in my pocket. how was she able to drive without the key in the vehicle?

[nmgoodthing]

Proximity!

Now if you got stuck at light, The car probably would have stalled.

[hfmstretch]

Proximity!

Now if you got stuck at light, The car probably would have stalled.

that was my first thought but she actually had to stop (without turning off the engine) to tend to the baby in the back seat. i was way ahead of her. definitely not proximity.

[scjconsulting]

You might have noticed a beeping when you moved away from the car. It was telling you that the car was still running when you got out of it. The car will continue to run though. I'm not sure if someone else could hit the button to turn off the engine without the key being close by. I have wondered about this if the car was hyjacked and they did not notice there was not a key.


Modified by scjconsulting at 11:00 PM 9/2/2008

[hfmstretch]

You might have noticed a beeping when you moved away from the car. It was telling you that the car was still running when you got out of it. The car will continue to run though. I'm not sure if someone else could hit the button to turn off the engine without the key being close by. I have wondered about this if the car was hyjacked and they did not notice there was'nt a key.

i have noticed the beeping before but on this occasion i did not.

i also wonder if pushing to the button to turn off would work without the key in/near the car- my guess is the car wont respond.

[striz923]

weird i thought that when the car was running, but the key wasn't inside that you couldn't change gears. I am sure the answer to this is somewhere in the owners manual.

[ronez82]

From experience once the car is started and the key then removed and left behind you can drive the car normally and even turn it off but once it is off you need the key again to start it.

My buddy has a maxima with the intelligent key I dropped him off and I drove to the store. He had the key with him and completely forgot. I got to the store turned the car off,came back out to the car and couldn't start it. I finished part of the twelve pack waiting on the key. No warning beeps when he got out either.

[hfmstretch]

From experience once the car is started and the key then removed and left behind you can drive the car normally and even turn it off but once it is off you need the key again to start it.

My buddy has a maxima with the intelligent key I dropped him off and I drove to the store. He had the key with him and completely forgot. I got to the store turned the car off,came back out to the car and couldn't start it. I finished part of the twelve pack waiting on the key. No warning beeps when he got out either.

i think that is the answer. you can drive without the key in the car but once it is turned off, you wont be able to turn it back on [unless you have the key].

from a theft perspective it is a good thing. if a carjacker pulled me out of the vehicle and it didnt go, the jacker would probably shake me down to get the key. but considering how it works, the jacker would be able to drive away and wouldnt be able to start the car once turned off. i dont see a problem with this setup, does anyone see a problem or are there any other thoughts? very interesting...

[onefattboy909]

i had the same thing happen to me.. i would think once the key is a good distance away from the car it would shut off or once the car is put in drive... ..

[Bawkchicken]

i had the same thing happen to me.. i would think once the key is a good distance away from the car it would shut off or once the car is put in drive... ..

There are a couple of negatives to that. Seeing as how there is zone functionality (i.e. doors won't lock unless remote is immediately outside of the car, push-button-start only works is remote is inside car, etc.), we would lose all of that. I'm sure it's saved a few of us from locking the keys inside.

Second, batteries would need to be changed more often than two years. The remote already constantly transmits it's signal, but to gain that "good distance away from car" range, it would have to use a lot more power to do so. Not only that, but if the remote was transmitting on long range, it would probably be picked up from inside your home. Then somebody could just walk up to your car in the driveway, with your key "safely" inside the house, and just unlock it.

I think it's been pretty well thought out IMO. Perhaps in the very near future, we will use haptic technology to secure our vehicles, and rely on the remotes for valet-type modes.

[hfmstretch]

There are a couple of negatives to that. Seeing as how there is zone functionality (i.e. doors won't lock unless remote is immediately outside of the car, push-button-start only works is remote is inside car, etc.), we would lose all of that. I'm sure it's saved a few of us from locking the keys inside.

Second, batteries would need to be changed more often than two years. The remote already constantly transmits it's signal, but to gain that "good distance away from car" range, it would have to use a lot more power to do so. Not only that, but if the remote was transmitting on long range, it would probably be picked up from inside your home. Then somebody could just walk up to your car in the driveway, with your key "safely" inside the house, and just unlock it.

I think it's been pretty well thought out IMO. Perhaps in the very near future, we will use haptic technology to secure our vehicles, and rely on the remotes for valet-type modes.

for people (like me) that didnt know what haptic technology is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haptic(if the link doesnt appear put "haptic technology" into wikipedia

[Bawkchicken]

Oops! Sorry, yeah... didn't think about "haptic" not being a part our lexicon just yet!

So just relate haptic to things like fingerprint scanners (found on some laptops and brands of mice to verify users). You just swipe your finger across a little scanner, and it verifies identity.