MacLexN

I walked away from my LS with the key fob in my pocket and the car running ... What could have happened?

cmasten

very common I have given my car to valets etc.. with the motor running and forgot to give them the key. Once the car is started, it will beep if it detects that fob is out of distance but will still run just fine unit its turned off. The dash will also tell you the key is out of range, so if the attendant or other is paying attention they will know what the beeping is about, but its not required to keep the car running once it starts.

GregCon

The best convenience feature I ever had on a car was my old company car - a '95 Taurus with the keypad on the door. I could just drop the keys under the front seat, lock the doors and leave. It was especially good for occasions when I was going bike riding or hiking and I didn't want the bulk of the keychain in my pocket. When I cam back, I'd just enter the code and be back in.

Push to start is another case of 'confused luxury', IMO. A car that starts without the key...but you still need to have the key in your pocket, and if you lose it then it's several hundred dollars to get another one, too. The old '95 Taurus ....now that was luxury.

Convenience = luxury

jmcraney

Your question seems to be in the context of you parking the car and forgetting to turn the ignition off. In a case like that you would get an audible warning, several beeps from your car's sounder, as you walked away, if you still had the remote key with you. If you ignored the warning and left the car running, it would continue to run until someone discovered it and turned the ignition off with the pushbutton. If no one discovers your car, it will continue to run until it runs out of fuel and then it would discharge the battery because the ignition was left on. So, then you would have an empty fuel tank and a dead battery. That's probably what would happen if you left it running when you parked outside or in a high-rise garage. But, if you parked it in your home garage and left it running, with the garage door closed, it might overheat and catch fire and set your house on fire or, it might result in the inhabitants of your house being killed by carbon monoxide poisoning. Before the advent of the "Pushbutton Start" technology the risk of doing this sort of thing while parking at home was mitigated by the attachment of your house key to your car key on a key ring - when you got to your house door and didn't have the key you returned to your car and turned the ignition off to get the house key. There is concern about this danger and additional warnings are being placed on new cars and safety experts are considering features to reduce this risk.

MarkGS

I had a friend whose son left home on a long road trip without the key fob. Several hours later he stopped to refuel and was stuck. My friends (his parents) had to call and auto service and Lexus to get a new set of keys to him. I think it took several hours and several hundred dollars. It wasn't a Lexus, but it was still very expensive and inconvenient.

I still like the ability to start or unlock the car without fumbling for keys. But always keep the above story in mind when you hear that beeping as you walk away from a running vehicle.....

GregCon

I really dislike it when I start my car, forget something inside the house, and the beeping goes crazy when I walk back inside to get it. I also dislike the beeping when try to move the vehicle 3 feet without all the doors closed and my safety restraint in place. I could do without the beeping. Give me the days of the Eddie Murphy talking vehicle.

MacLexN

Well said and very thorough, but I was thinking more of walking away (distance wise) before the car shuts off, but you covered that too .... Thanks

RX_330

Not really confused - it serves its purpose. The whole point of it is to be able to have functionality of the key without the hassle of taking the key out of your pocket or purse.

09LS460

I think it should have some sort of cutoff time though if the key is sensed to be outside the cabin. For the reasons listed above by jmcraney, the convenience of the pushbutton shouldn't wholly compromise the owners security or safety. Of course common sense says don't leave your car running in the garage, but if the car knows the FOB is nearby, it should know it's away and take proactive measures IMO.....

RX_330

This has been questioned many times before. Lets say the cut off is 30 minutes when the key isn't detected and it's programmed to shut off.

What if you're driving during that 30 minutes and it shuts off in the middle of the highway. See the dangerous implications there?

Of course they could get around that and program it to shut off after 30 minutes at 0mph, and in park or something or other.

jmcraney

I love the keyless technology (pushbutton start) and like many others I have been caught by the key not being with the car. It's a lesson that sticks so you usually make that mistake only once. There are safeguards to prevent that sort of problem and they work reliably for most people in most situations. For me, I took my wife to the salon mistakenly thinking my key was in my pocket. The car used the key that my wife was carrying in her purse and she took that with her when she got out of the car. I continued on for a couple of blocks after I dropped her and when I tried to lock the car, with the button on the door, after I parked it the doors would not lock. Being a senior citizen, it took me a little while to figure that all out. I hiked back, in my dirty overalls, and got the key. I think I associated the audible alarm with the seatbelt-opendoor alarm. There are some holes in the warning scheme. For instance, if my wife had gotten out of the car and left her purse and then I passed it to her through an open window the warning would not have worked.

Radio Frequency technology is employed to make this neat feature work. I think it would be difficult and dangerous to incorporate an automatic kill feature. There is always the possibility that there will be radio-frequency-interference that will compromise the communications with the remote key and there is the possibility that the remote key battery or the remote key itself will fail. An unexpected shutdown could be very dangerous and although these would be rare events they would be unacceptable and would occur more frequently than most of us imagine. It brings to mind the "Brake Hold" feature that has caught many owners unaware.

Nospinzone

Heck, when I was a young man I had a 1963 Chevy that was "push to start". The trick was to park at the top of a hill. It was no luxury!

09LS460

The car does know that the FOB is inside or outside the car, so,,,,,,,,(then I saw the point).

I would think some sort of NAV screen blast telling you that the key is not in the car so you're made aware of it and don't let your wife out of the car ala jmcraney's situation.

Of course I would hope that they could figure this out, but then they have "&apos" for UTF encoding on some radio stations, so who knows....

Silverpaws

MacLexN

Reminds me of my Orange 1974 Pinto name "The Turtle"