Hidden Dangers of Push-Button Start

KMGZ400 · September 16, 2015

There is no problem with the cars. We don't need lights or beepers to get people to turn it off. They should just know. It is on the owner/operator of the vehicle to be familiar with how it works. If they neglect to educate themselves then they deserve the fallout.

I rented 43 cars last year. I'm sure there were duplicates but even halving the number and saying I drove 20ish different models without issue proves it can be done. It's a ****ing car, it should be obvious to anyone that if they turned it on, they need to turn it off.

its just the world we live in.. its filled with incompetent people. nothing we can do!

66nova · September 16, 2015

I'm not a huge fan of push button start. I'm kinda the take it or leave it type when it comes to push button. I wouldn't mind a hybrid system that would unlock doors and back hatches when in range, but still requires a key to start.

I think this suit falls under taking personal responsibility. Kinda like coffee is hot. It might burn you. It would be different if there was a failure there, but the only failure is someone wasn't paying attention and didn't shut off their car.

Our Lexus would beep at you and light on the dash would flash if the key left the cabin.

SILVER SLED · September 16, 2015

One may argue that a keyless ignition may even be cheaper or no extra cost than a key ignition. In a key ignition, when your turn they key your just sending a signal to start the vehicle, no diff than pressing a button to do the same thing. And I'm sure that there are some once bigshots at GM that would argue that a key ignition has much more potential to be more deadly than a push button. Remember the big recall fiasco with GM and the ignition switches just a couple years ago, thats still going on.

MikeNH · September 16, 2015

It absolutely costs more since most keyless ignitions do the proximity door unlocking so there will be antennas in each front door and trunk/tailgate. Plus the software to run it (VWs for example won't allow the trunk to close with a key inside supposedly).

SnakeEyeSS · September 16, 2015

It absolutely costs more since most keyless ignitions do the proximity door unlocking so there will be antennas in each front door and trunk/tailgate. Plus the software to run it (VWs for example won't allow the trunk to close with a key inside supposedly).

My mazda had two, one in center console bottom, one around 3rd brake light. Assume the new CX-5 is similar but havent looked into it.

Spurshot · September 16, 2015

There is no problem with the cars. We don't need lights or beepers to get people to turn it off. They should just know. It is on the owner/operator of the vehicle to be familiar with how it works. If they neglect to educate themselves then they deserve the fallout.

I rented 43 cars last year. I'm sure there were duplicates but even halving the number and saying I drove 20ish different models without issue proves it can be done. It's a ****ing car, it should be obvious to anyone that if they turned it on, they need to turn it off.

What your experience with 43 cars exemplifies is that industry collaboration and regulatory mandates have combined to make it possible for you to have successfully driven all those different cars without incident. What if you jumped into a different make of rental car and the brake was a hand lever ?

In this country, it is a shared responsibility of the manufacturers and operators of consumer products for safe operation. It just is. Whether or not you agree with it or not.

It would be obvious to shut off a piston engine car. Not so obvious to shut off a car that has no engine running and making noise, which could/did automatically start that engine later and asphyxiate people sleeping in their bed. This is a classic case of unintended consequences when combining two unrelated technologies. To Toyota's credit, they did put an alert in that annunciates some sort of chirp when you've left the ignition on and the key is out of the car. I don't know if that feature was part of the original design or it came later.

MikeNH · September 16, 2015

I've driven hybrids and managed to turn them off. And when at the dealer I had to drive a few cars with hand controls (they retain the pedals but the linkage got in the way of my shoes). There is no problems with cars, it's the users. End of story.

Spurshot · September 16, 2015

I've driven hybrids and managed to turn them off. And when at the dealer I had to drive a few cars with hand controls (they retain the pedals but the linkage got in the way of my shoes). There is no problems with cars, it's the users. End of story.

It's not for you or I to decide if there is or isn't a problem that needs to be addressed with these cars. Regulators and litigators will decide that. How far they should go is just opinion.

SnakeEyeSS · September 17, 2015

Regulators and litigators will decide that.

Oh don't remind me. Such competence there :rollseyes:

Spurshot · September 17, 2015

Oh don't remind me. Such competence there :rollseyes:

Yeah I suppose it depends on which regulators and litigators. LOL

Debra in Cali · September 21, 2015

I am more concerned with aftermarket remote start devices.

Years ago, my young adult son decided that he just couldn't do without one. So he installed it, but it was missing the safety part that prevents it from starting the engine if it is in gear. Right after he installs it he comes home for a visit. I standing in my garage, next to the freezer when he decides it would be a good time to start his engine, while he is inside of our house. You guessed it, his car was in gear. Destroyed our garage door. Scared the $#&^@* out of me. He almost didn't live to tell about it. Cost him some money since he paid for a new garage door. I can laugh about it now, but it took a while.

My Silverado has remote start and I have used it a several times. Back then, I told my son that the only people that need remote start are bank robbers. I do use it to start my vehicle when I go out after work to an empty parking lot after dark or when it is 105 and I want to cool the truck off before my elderly mother has to get into it.

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Atlas · September 21, 2015

I think I see it both ways. Making things simple and safe is good. But at what point is enough, enough? I can't answer that.

Survival instinct seems to be disappearing. I think this is the long-term byproduct of a society that encourages trading money for convenience. And freedom for safety.

SnakeEyeSS · September 22, 2015

I think I see it both ways. Making things simple and safe is good. But at what point is enough, enough? I can't answer that.

I can. Friggin rain sensing wipers. If you don't know its raining, or can't move your hand a few inches....

What we DO need is automatic turn signals, Standard on every car. Let the engineers figure that one out. Save us from the idiots.

jimlem · September 23, 2015

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of the keyless systems. I've had too many act weird on me. But demanding action because a dozen people over probably as many years were too stupid to turn off their engines is a bit much to me.

EXACTLY!

If someone is too stupid to know the vehicle needs to be turned off, they shouldn't even have a license to drive.

I agree with you both to a very small degree. But what happens when the victims of the monoxide of oxygen are a loved one who did not listen to the lecture about when to switch off the key. Or got in a hurry and meant to get back to the garage ASAP but didn't. Can you imagine carrying your loved one, to the ambulance, with their skin blue and their lips, nose an eyes all red? Not trying to be a dick here but is there any chance these people are not idiots, not too stupid to have a license, etc. Maybe they just did not understand. Maybe they needed more time than you did. Maybe someone should have spent just a little more time on this area instead of saying "your safe because you aren't a dummy like most drivers. Only asking you to look at it with a bit of empathy. Dismissing a new driver as too stupid seems a bit harsh, without giving them the time to learn

MikeNH · September 23, 2015

CO poisoning from a modern car is practically obsolete. They run so damn clean that it would take hours and hours in most cases. My brother is on the rescue squad in the town I grew up in and some woman tried the hose from the tailpipe to the cabin to commit suicide and she fell asleep, ran out of gas and woke up with a terrible headache. It's just not something I consider a realistic threat. Given the tiny amount of deaths over a long period of time, how many of these people had pre existing medical issues? It's like during the initial deaths with the GM ignition switch, 6 of the 13 were drunk, one had a seizure and several in that group weren't wearing a seatbelt. The media cherry picks data to cause panic and this BS is exactly that.