I always laugh at comments like "I have to figure out which button to press on the fob to unlock the door!" There are usually three or four buttons on there and if you own the car, it becomes muscle memory on day three or so.
Unless you're like, 300 years old, in which case, carry on wit' cho stubborn self.
Also, new new cars just require the fob on you somewhere and you grab the door handle, which I trust is not a very difficult task.
Gearheadotaku said:Last straw is the lack of security. Walk up to your car, doors automatically unlock, allowing anyone to jump in and drive away while you are loading the trunk. If you're real lucky they'll back over you during their get away....
The doors don't auto unlock. The driver's door unlocks when you try to open it, if you have the key on you. The range is so small on that function that if anyone jumps in they would have done so even if you were using a regular key. When you're at the trunk the doors will not be unlocked unless you've manually unlocked them. And with the fob, they wouldn't go anywhere as the car won't start without the key inside it. It can tell whether the key is inside or outside the car, the receivers are that sensitive and the range that small.
A dealer will charge out the wazoo for the key, but I'm willing to bet the whole shebang adds less than a hundred bucks onto a $35,000 new car. It's a few small coils and a cheap RFID chip. It also allows them to remove complex mechanical key locks from several locations so might be an even smaller cost difference than that. Not even enough to worry about.
I love my classic cars, but a key is not foolproof or fail-proof any more than a fob is. I have had zero fob failures, and have had several key cylinder failures. I'm not about to indict key technology based on that, but it's definitely not fail-proof.
Brake_L8 said:I always laugh at comments like "I have to figure out which button to press on the fob to unlock the door!" There are usually three or four buttons on there and if you own the car, it becomes muscle memory on day three or so.
Unless you're like, 300 years old, in which case, carry on wit' cho stubborn self.
So I"m 300 years old. At least I don't make fun of others.
stuart in mn said:Brake_L8 said:I always laugh at comments like "I have to figure out which button to press on the fob to unlock the door!" There are usually three or four buttons on there and if you own the car, it becomes muscle memory on day three or so.
Unless you're like, 300 years old, in which case, carry on wit' cho stubborn self.
So I"m 300 years old. At least I don't make fun of others.
It's not really making fun of others, just expressing general amazement at a lack of interest in technological progress.
Nugi said:To address the supposed theft resistance of fobs, I can buy a $139 device on alibaba that will unlock more than half of cars made between 2005 and 2015. No lock picking, no carjacking, no breakin windows. Its a ease-of-use feature occasionally marketed to users and insurance alike as 'security'. Insurance looks the other way as 'no eveidince of intrusion' clears them to thefts they might otherwise have to cover, much like bump-keys.
Right, because no one has ever stolen a car prior to this. I mean I can go to a hardware store and buy a hammer and a screwdriver for $20 and steal most older cars.
As with most measures, they are built around the lowest common denominator, not the outliers.
In reply to nutherjrfan :
LOL...We have the same Versa key thing going. The ONLY lock on the car is the DS door. Royal PITA as you need to open the door before you can open the tailgate and I dont carry a remote for the Versa. Even without any remote features, the Versa key was $200 to replace because of the chip in the damn thing. I hate the dealer.
Rather timely topic.
Just last week I walked out to my 2004 Evolution key in hand. It wasn't a very cold day but over night and at this time in the morning it is still below freezing.
Placed the key at the driver door key hole and pushed in. Instantly realized that the rain last night became freezing rain which now meant ice occupied the driver door key hole. So no way to open that right now. Walked around to the passenger door and while the key went almost all the way in there was still ice preventing me from entering my car.
So I went to get my personal form of deicer, warm spray bottle of windshield washer fluid from the basement furnace room. As I walked up the stairs I realized how my kids will think this preparation to resolve this issue is similar to me wondering why my father had three cans of some easy start product to spray into a carburator on winter days when the mix wasn't right and talking to me about choking the engine?!?
So as I walked out the door, deicer in hand I Auto started our new Pacifica to warm it up and deice the windshield for my wife to drive the kids to school. Chuckled as I put my hand on the driver door handle and it unlocked.
Back to my Evo, I sprayed my deicer into the key holes and juggled the key inside until I could turn it.
While I know some of you guys live in parts of the world where winter is a low of 40degF!!!!(The Horror!) For me and others it is just another reason why advanced proximity fobs are a win.
Keys? Fobs? I remember in 2003 we had some sort of emergency with a key client in Spain and the boss sent me over there because I ran my mouth about how easy it should be. Anyway, so I land in Madrid early in the morning and saunter up to the Hertz counter to get my “small” car I’d reserved. The young lady looked puzzled as she keyed in my info. Sir, she said, we have no small cars available. I rent you big car for small car price. Her assistant escorts me out to the garage to a then almost never seen before by the public Renault Vel Satis. This car, she explained, has no key but starts instead with a card. A credit card or hotel room card but about 5 times as thick. The card even has a hole in it so you can attach it to your key ring she said. You insert the card into the console, press the button, and the little turbo diesel springs to life. Only trouble was, the hole for the key-ring was on the wrong end of the card. Dumbest thing ever in the dumbest looking car I’ve ever seen. By the looks I got I may as well have been driving the Barris Batmobile
The key fob for my 09 Hyundai Genesis is kinda the best of both worlds. Still has the traditional key in the fob to unlock the doors/trunk if the battery is dead and has a slot in the center console that you can insert the actual fob into if the battery in it is dead and still be able to start the car. So the convenience of a key fob with all the backups if the fob battery totally dies
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