IDEA: Hold switch on Car Keys Fob

thetargetarcher

Hello,

I am not sure if this has already been covered or suggested somewhere. I did a very quick search but could not find anything.

Why is it that car key fobs do not have a little hold switch like you get on personal CD players, tap players, Mp3 players etc.

The buttons to lock and unlock a vehicle seem nowadays to be rather sensitive and you can activate one of the functions from quite a distance away from a vehicle. If for instance you had your key fob in your pocket it could accidentally activate and unlock your vehicle without you realising. Likewise if you accidentally knocked your fob whist at home if it was lying around or you dropped it.

I have used several rental vehicles and none of them have this feature.

I am suprised that the car manufacturers do not put this very simple device on key fobs. It cannot cost very much and would be quite a good safetly feature.

rdwarr

Grumpy Old Man Time :

What on Earth is the point of something that lets you unlock or lock your car from a distance? It's bound to break down or suffer flat batteries eventually and you'll be in trouble.
Given that you have to approach your car and touch the door in order to get in, why not have some sort of hole in the door into which you can insert a special "key" which unlocks/locks it safely and securely?

Reminds me of the button on my home CD remote that ejects the disc.

piggeh

I never do get the point of an eject button on a remote, except so you can press eject so you dont have to wait for it to eject whilst you're bent down at the unit.

However, a central locking remote saves on scratching your door to bits when it's dark and you cant see the lock! A 'hold/lock' on it would be useful, although I think other cars lock themselves if no doors have been opened within 30 seconds of the remote being pressed.

david29dpo

the lady next door has a Z4. this has a very sensitive boot release button which also turns the light on. next morning flat battery!

thetargetarcher

rdwarr wrote:

Grumpy Old Man Time :

What on Earth is the point of something that lets you unlock or lock your car from a distance? It's bound to break down or suffer flat batteries eventually and you'll be in trouble.
Given that you have to approach your car and touch the door in order to get in, why not have some sort of hole in the door into which you can insert a special "key" which unlocks/locks it safely and securely?

Reminds me of the button on my home CD remote that ejects the disc.

Key fob activates the alarm and the immobiliser. It unlocks/locks all doors and the luggage compartment at the same time. Just using a key will unlock one front door at a time or the luggage compartment. Therefore you would have to go round the vehicle locking and unlocking each one separately with a key.

chrisw

thetargetarcher wrote:

Key fob activates the alarm and the immobiliser. It unlocks/locks all doors and the luggage compartment at the same time. Just using a key will unlock one front door at a time or the luggage compartment. Therefore you would have to go round the vehicle locking and unlocking each one separately with a key.

Not necessarily. I had an old H-reg Cavalier SRi where turning the key in the drivers door locked/unlocked all the doors and boot and set/unset the alarm and immobiliser.