If you’re talking about fob replacement costs, that’s more than double what I’ve been quoted and quadruple what I’ve actually paid. The last two used cars I’ve bought came with only one fob, and we needed two. Although the dealerships (Nissan and Toyota/Lexus) wanted around $300 each, by buying blank fobs online and having an independent locksmith program and cut the mechanical key hidden inside, I ended up paying about half that or less.
You have to be careful that the fob you buy works on the right frequencies for your car, and not all locksmiths can cut that special key, but otherwise it’s no big deal.
Because I don’t have to dig around through my bags and pockets trying to find the key to ether start the car or open the doors- because I haven’t seen proximity locks with an ignition key. Plus, I won’t have the problems that sometimes results when you have a keyring hanging from the ignition. (something about the weight of the keys)
One thing about keyless ignition, it eliminates the following common thriller scenario:
Prospective victim is running from the serial killer (in high heels, no doubt.) She reaches the car, and has to dig in her purse for the key. She is so scared she can’t get the key in the lock.
If she is the heroine, she does it just in time. If she isn’t she doesn’t.
With keyless entry, she gets right in, locks the door, and the killer shouts “no fair!”.
The other thing is the the little stupidity of characters leaving their cars unlocked so they can get into them without slowing down the action is gone. You put a beep on the soundtrack and Bib’s your uncle.
It may come down to deliberately developing a new habit. When I exit my car, I push the door-lock button on the inside of the door after I’ve opened it, but before I’ve even stepped out of the car. This is kind of an automatic thing for me.
Go back and read through this discussion, and you’ll see the answers to your question. In short, it’s far more convenient; most car owners agree that life is better with keyless entry/ignition.
Your logic is specious; it’s like saying “written records have been a part of business for a hundred years, why now use computers?” There are pros and cons, and most people find that the pros vastly outweigh the cons.
Do you lose your keys a lot? I can’t remember the last time I lost mine.
You really can’t see why it’s so much nicer to not have to dig through a pocket/purse to take out your car key for unlocking/starting a car? :dubious:
No external sensor on the exterior door handle? My habit is as yours, except I simply wave my hand near the external sensor outside the car. If I don’t have a key in my pocket (e.g., I’ve used the keypad), then I use the interior switch to lock the doors.
yeah, that. A lot of cars will have a small button or touch pad on the exterior door handle, press/touch it after exiting the vehicle and it’ll lock the doors.
There is a sensor on my exterior door handle for unlocking the car: wrap fingers around handle, car looks for/sees fob, unlocks door just before you actually pull on the handle.
There is a pushbutton on my exterior door handle for locking the car. But using it requires turning around and accurately placing my finger on that button before turning around again to walk away; I’ve found it’s just quicker to use the button on the inside of the door as I’m getting out, all in one sort of fluid motion.
You know that scene in a movie where someone pulls a few wires out from under the dash and hot wires the car? Or takes a big screwdriver, pops the lock out of the steering column, sticks the screwdriver in, and starts the car? That’s how secure the regular keys we’ve used for a hundred years were, even with the adoption, in the 1960s or '70s, of the steering lock. A competent crook could defeat them in minutes or even seconds.
In addition to all the convenience features people have mentioned here, the fobs include a chip that overrides the car’s immobilizer feature and lets the engine start. Without the fob, a crook can screw around with wires and the steering column all he wants. The car isn’t going to start.
I presume that that’s the primary reason the tech was implemented; the convenience features were just nice additional selling points.
Yeah, that seems odd to me. If you can unlock the car without getting your keys out (which you should be able to do, as that’s half the point of these keyless fob systems), I would assume there’s a way to lock the door as well (typically a button, or just a touch sensor on the handle.)
That sort of chip tech was embedded in keys before keyless entry/ignition became a thing. If you have a conventional mechanical key, and it’s got a big molded plastic head on it without any buttons, that’s almost certainly got a VATS chip embedded in it:
No battery was required in this type of system. Keyless entry (i.e. a small remote control with buttons to lock/unlock the car doors) developed in roughly the same timeframe. My early 2000s Maxima had a VATS key that you inserted and turned to start the car, but it also included a separate fob on the keyring that you could use to lock/unlock the doors. That fob included a battery, but the battery could be dead (or the fob could be gone), and you would still have been able to start the car with just the key.
The successor to this was keyless ignition that we’re talking about in this thread. In this case, the system is looking for a unique ID signal from the fob before it will permit the engine to run - the only difference is that instead of having the driver turn a mechanical key to ask the car to ping the VATS chip and make the engine crank, the driver pushes a button to ask the computer to ping the fob and make the engine crank. AIUI, these keyless ignition fobs are not passive devices like the VATS key system described above; they rely on their internal battery to let them generate and broadcast a unique rolling-code sequence whenever the car yells out “hey fob, send me your code.” In the event that the fob has a dead battery, these systems usually have a backup method that allows the fob to be placed in a particular location in the cockpit for passive detection, enabling the car to still be started.
I had the same exact experience. I drive our cars until they drop, so I was used to circa-2000 technology in cars. A lot has changed since then!
And yeah … there was some retraining. I treated my fob like physical keys for a few weeks. Didn’t hurt anything or make things harder … just a little extra mental overhead. But after those few weeks, I started naturally and unconsciously using the fob as a fob. I really didn’t have to make a conscious adjustment – the retraining, in other words, was easy, intuitive, and done in the background of my mind.
Thanks for pointing out the distinctions between all those different systems and their histories, Machine Elf. My apologies for conflating a few of them.
My car has a ‘switchblade’ key so there’s nothing sharp to stab me in the leg. I keep my keys in my front pocket, it’s not in my front pocket when it’s in the ignition & I’m sitting in the car. Therefore, my key is more comfortable than your fob. Also I used to cary a small Swiss Army knife, but now you can’t even go to a baseball game with such a ‘weapon’; The key is useful in opening shrink wrapping or taped boxes.
I’ve stated before, I somewhat regularly & intentionally lock my key in my car. When I go running, I take the cheapie, chipless key that is smaller, lighter, & waterproof (no electronics) that will only unlock the door & work the accessories (windows & radio) It’s easy to tie it into my laces, or put in that tiny key pocket inside my shorts, where a fob won’t even fit.
On my Honda, it works like you’ve described. There’s lock I can use the regular key on, but no button. Since it takes a couple of seconds for the lock to open when I use my hand, if it’s raining I remotely unlock the door. Another advantage to having a keyless remote.
The doors automatically lock once the car is moving and unlock when I park. When I exit, the doors lock and the lights blink once I’m a few feet away.
Also, I found out by mistake (I valet parked and forget to give my keys) that if I leave the window(s) open and walk away from the car, anyone trying to open the door sets off the alarm.
When I first got the car, I thought I wouldn’t like it, but now I love my keyless remote and features.
My car has a bracelet that looks like a fitbit I can use to enter the car after running, swimming, etc. It allows me to lock the fob in the car. (in theory, I haven’t actually tried to use it yet)
My car just locks itself automatically when I walk more than a few feet from it. It will even lock if I get out, close the door and walk back to the trunk( which then itself promptly opens at the push of a button ).
