I was playing around with the pushbutton start and key the other day, and I discovered something surprising.

I started the car as normal, took the key and placed it at the back of my driveway. Then I drove to the end of my driveway. Other than the warning about the key being out of range, the car kept running.

Will the car ever shutoff automatically after a predefined time of the key being out of range? It would seem to me that this would be an important safety feature. The manual makes no mention of an auto shutoff.

Dave

 

no it will not shut off

 

Good question. It certainly reminds me when my wife leaves her purse in the car with her key - it won't let me lock the car.

 

The car will shut off - word of caution to those with curious kids with long hands

 

took me forever to figure out why when i walk up to the car the lights didnt turn on and i couldnt get the door to unlock automatically.

 

it wont be shut off, but they wont be able to start it again. this is actually an safety feature in case key somehow gets lost, out of range, thrown out of car, etc...

 

So say a child with long arms hits the button while you're doing 60, that kills the engine right? Can you restart it without stopping and putting your foot on the brake? Not advising anyone to try this but curious.

 

Interesting question..i'll have to try it.....on a safe road....

 

According to page 351 in the manual you have to press and hold the button for 3 or more seconds in order for it to kill the engine while the car is in motion. If it really is 3 seconds, it's probably unlikely the child would have the opportunity to press it that long without the driver noticing.

Also, pressing the start button while the car's in park will immediately kill the engine and set the switch to ACC.

 

I did this about a month ago messing around with friends in the car. I was rolling to a stop at a red light and decided to see what would happen. Not only did the car shut off, it wouldnt start again even with my foot on the brake. It took a second for me to realize that it was still in drive. It wouldn't start again until I put the car in park.

 

Sometimes when I come to a stop and open the door, the door chime sounds, and sometimes it doesn't. What's the deal?

 

Yeah..sometimes the chime goes crazy too....not sure what causes that....

 

Yes, I've experienced that too. I experienced the chime goijng off at different times for no apparent reason. When it goes off, I think to myself, now what the heck is it complaining about? The other day it went off when the trunk finished it's auto close operation. Weird.

 

The 3GS has an automatic trunk closer?

 

Not really. I couldn't think of anything else to call the automatic locking mechanism. And it does automatically pull the trunk lid closed, just only an inch or two.

This thread is wandering way off topic.