Maybe I missed it but, why would anyone go threw this much trouble to lock the keys in the car.

Because they didn't get remote start I guess.

Ohh duh. Funny story since we are talking about those people.

Mine didn't come with it installed:egads:, but I saw it for sale online at one of the sponsers for 200 and some change. So I bought it now I have remote start sitting on my table here in a box waiting to be installed.

I can't think of a good reason to leave the keys in the car. All it takes is one second...

Good luck with the remote start install. I like mine, by the way. No complaints here ;)

My RX is kept in a garage at night. Why would I take the fob out?

Answer to that was posted above and I believe is also in the owners manual.

Dave: I wasn't replying looking for an answer (I already read the thread), I was answering the previous post:

"I can't think of a good reason to leave the keys in the car"

Related to this discussion - just got a 2007 ES to replace a 94 ES so the uber-cool key fob and electric start are new to me.

Is this normal: car running, place in park, leave vicinity with key fob in my pocket, car beeps but keeping right on idling. Could someone come over and just drive it away?

Surely that can't be...but I was inside my house, yards away with brick walls in between the fob and the car and it didn't shut off.

Strange or am I dumb?

Yes someone could drive it away. OTOH if they shut the car off they couldn't restart the car.

Try it. I don't think that you will find that you can drive away. The smart key needs to be in the car. I keep forgetting to leave mine in the car when I take it to a car wash (yes, I do that occasionally!) and the attendants come running after me.

I've tried it, you can indeed drive it away without a keyfob...

I mean that is really ridiculous. I can't imagine why it was designed that way. You leave with the key then the engine should shut off or at least you should not be able to shift into gear.

Welp, such is life. Thanks for the info, folks, appreciate it.

There are so many scenarios where maintaining the status quo makes sense:

You inadvertently lose the key, or drive over it while stepping momentarily out of the car, the battery goes dead; or your spouse drops you off, you have the key, she takes off on for an emergency, car goes dead part way, yada, yada...

You can make arguments to the contrary and it would all be valid, but I'm sure Toyota/Lexus have weighed all the pros & cons, and perhaps much of this was decided by committee amongst other car manufacturers (they do get together on non-compete safety related issues - SAE, etc...).

I posted this in the wrong thread. Here it is again:

I stand corrected!!

I just pulled the car out of the garage and tried it. As I left the car I got two loud electronic beeps but the engine stayed running. I took the FOB into the house and came back. When I got into the car there was a big yellow warning diamond in the cluster and the center display showed a message that the key was not in the car. I put the car in gear and drove back into the garage.

I guess the people in the car wash were just reacting to the displayed warnings rather than not being able to move the vehicle.

Ppl can drive away without FOB when the engine is already on. They will continuingly see lots of alerts showing or beeping during the drive.

When going to some of the auto car wash, I leave the engine on and shift to N. Once they finish cleaning and drive it to the next stop, they will shut down the engine and leave the car there without worrying about someone drives it away.