Keyless cars

[RonA]

Ive owned such a beast for nearly a year now & read with alarm in my local rag that approx 70 cars in my local area alone have been stolen, most by using the signal amplifiers (freely available to any low life thieves for a cost of approx £200).
What puzzles me is the operation of the keyless system (& I discovered this by accident). To start your car you need the key (or amplified key signal if you’re a thief). But once started the car will keep running even if the key is removed. (wife dropped me off once & drove home oblivious of the keys removal in my pocket). You only need the key again once the car has been stopped.
Why once the key is out of range does the car not stop? Surely this would stop the car & any thieves inside dead in their tracks.
Current advice is to keep your keys in the fridge (acts as a faraday cage). What!!
RonA

 

[Shox Dr]

Because they can sell you another car when it gets nicked.

There are plenty of examples where a simple solution would stop thieft. But thats no good for the bottom line

 

[daleyd]

Ive owned such a beast for nearly a year now & read with alarm in my local rag that approx 70 cars in my local area alone have been stolen, most by using the signal amplifiers (freely available to any low life thieves for a cost of approx £200).
What puzzles me is the operation of the keyless system (& I discovered this by accident). To start your car you need the key (or amplified key signal if you’re a thief). But once started the car will keep running even if the key is removed. (wife dropped me off once & drove home oblivious of the keys removal in my pocket). You only need the key again once the car has been stopped.
Why once the key is out of range does the car not stop? Surely this would stop the car & any thieves inside dead in their tracks.
Current advice is to keep your keys in the fridge (acts as a faraday cage). What!!
RonA

If the key develops a fault or runs out of batteries on the motorway you would end up with cars randomly stopping - I can’t imagine this would be an acceptable solution either.

 

[Kayos]

That's the thing, it needs to be "fail safe" (applied loosely) as once it's started it needs to keep going.

I'm all for improvements and tech moving on but keyless feels like its done for the sake of it

 

[grim_d]

Keyless ignition.

Another solution to a problem that never existed but now brings its own suite of problems.

The wifes Mazda constantly moans about its key. I must have put 10 batteries in it in 18 months.

 

[aguycalledsteve]

keyless feels like its done for the sake of it

It's done because people are lazy. Anything that saves you effort and time can be spun and sold as luxury feature.

 

[RonA]

If the key develops a fault or runs out of batteries on the motorway you would end up with cars randomly stopping - I can’t imagine this would be an acceptable solution either.

The same could be said if you’ve got the key in your pocket & it failed - non sequitur. If the key wasn’t present as in driving away after theft it would never (unless parked up in a motorway services) reach a motorway).
RonA

 

[anto44]

Pointless technology sells. The technology doesn't need to be good or work well, it just has to allow you to feel smug around people that can't afford it yet.

 

[daleyd]

The same could be said if you’ve got the key in your pocket & it failed - non sequitur. If the key wasn’t present as in driving away after theft it would never (unless parked up in a motorway services) reach a motorway).
RonA

And that’s exactly why it doesn’t “just stop”.

 

[RonA]

And that’s exactly why it doesn’t “just stop”.

Still don’t follow your logic I’m sure with suitable programming the car could be put into limp mode & then finally brought to a halt. Probably more to do with affecting the thieves human rights.
RonA

 

[daleyd]

Still don’t follow your logic I’m sure with suitable programming the car could be put into limp mode & then finally brought to a halt. Probably more to do with affecting the thieves human rights.
RonA

Ok, you could be the perfectly legal driver with the key in your pocket. The key develops a fault and the car immediately grinds to a halt. I can imagine that would leave all sorts of litigation issues.

The only time I can think of a thief benefiting from the “key not stopping immediately” scenario is if the car is already running, and the thief makes away with it. The issue of keyless security is another matter, but the fact the car keeps on running (once, until you try and restart it) without the key to me seems a very trivial issue.

 

[angellonewolf]

i dont see the benift of not having to put the key in the ignition its simple worked for the last x decades why change it i do understand advances in tech better replacment limbs eg but not having to put a key in a lock

 

[rtbcomp]

ISTR some discussion in the news about making cars stoppable from the outside so the police could stop car thieves in their tracks, but it was deemed unsafe. It should be easy enough for a driverless car to lock its doors and drive to the nearest police station after being told it's been stolen.

 

[RonA]

Just carried out a web search & discovered it is possible to turn off this feature, which I will be doing very shortly to increase the security of my vehicle.
RonA

 

[bricol]

Problem is, if it's a desirable car, they get more ambitious in coming for the key. During our gas problems here in the town, a local was woken up by the house alarm going off and his mum screaming - masked bloke had used a blow torch on the door to get around the secure lock and taken his Merc keys . . . confronted his mum in the hall way when she got up to sort the alarm. . .

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I put the key fob for my car through the washer and dryer so it stopped working. Main dealer wanted a small fortune to sort the problem out so in the end I bought a device that plugs into the OBD socket and a laptop. The menu includes access and recoding etc of the immobiliser. I assume thieves have something similar that allows them to drive away keyless cars without worry that it will stop and couldn't be restarted.

 

[Kayos]

I put the key fob for my car through the washer and dryer so it stopped working. Main dealer wanted a small fortune to sort the problem out so in the end I bought a device that plugs into the OBD socket and a laptop. The menu includes access and recoding etc of the immobiliser. I assume thieves have something similar that allows them to drive away keyless cars without worry that it will stop and couldn't be restarted.

Saw a cctv video of a brand new focus RS stolen in under 30 seconds, smashed a small window, plugged something in and drove it away

 

[Ruffian]

Anyone with anything desirable first thing I recommend is to

Move the obd plug.

90% of thefts are done through this and if it isn't there, their not going to look for it for ages.

Harder it is, safer it will be.


*I have even thought about wiring a fake plug up to an inverter but haven't got round to it yet.

 

[TechnicAl]

Whats the obd plug?

Ive got a new Kuga with keyless......I must admit it concerns me...the security side that is

 

[keithski122]

Our suzuki sx4 has this feature.If the keys move away from the car when the engine is running it will bleep at you and a dash warning light flashes.I don't think it relies on battery power in the fob.If it does fail theres a key hidden in the fob which will operate locks and ign barrel like normal.
I don't reckon anybody would wish to steal an old style suzuki sx4 though.