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https://apple.news/AsvsrF_WYRbOKASI3beweZg LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Need subscription to read...... Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

 The keyless car key is a dumb solution to a problem that didn't exist
The car industry is full of inventions and designs which have saved lives and made the world a better place. Seatbelts spring to mind, as do disc brakes, as well as the infinite iterations of engine and powertrain that have propelled the automobile from Karl Benz’s garden in Mannheim to a hydrogen refuelling station in Shanghai, all in around a century.

It’s therefore difficult to pinpoint a single invention or idea that represents the apex of this process, or that adequately reflects the brilliance of an industry that seems to outdo itself every year. But if I was going to choose just one piece of automotive design, a pinnacle of ingenuity in the cordillera of engineering acuity, it would be the keyless car key.

In the olden days, motorists were forced to carry around heavy, cumbersome car keys, often in excess of five centimetres in length. These would be used to open the car’s external doors as well as start the engine; a special ignition switch that accommodated the key was used at the beginning and end of every journey.

There were some benefits to this archaic procedure, and it’s easy to see why our primitive ancestors felt that car keys were a good idea – namely, the system meant that only somebody holding the correct key could start any given car.
But the sheer indignity of carrying a key and inserting it into a keyhole was never going to be tolerated for long by motorists, or indeed by an industry so obsessed with reinvention. Once considered effective security devices, which were perfectly suited to the job at hand, car keys would one day need to be replaced with something more expensive, more complicated, and slightly worse.

The car industry’s answer to this non-existent question was profound. “Keyless start” meant eschewing the car key and most of the efficacy that came with it, in favour of an object similar in size and heft but with practical compromises and critical security weaknesses. Opening and starting a car could finally be achieved without a key. Or at least, without something that looks like a key. Obviously, you'd still need a key. Only it would be keyless.
The keyless key would be slightly too large to comfortably fit into a trouser pocket and a little too heavy to keep in a jacket, yet would nevertheless need to be in the car at all times while the engine was on. As such, drivers would still have to carry these objects around with them, but instead of being kept in the ignition lock chamber while the car is in motion, the key for a ‘keyless’ system would be placed loosely in the vehicle’s cup holder, where it can rattle and, potentially, disappear into the passenger footwell half way around a roundabout.

They can also run out of battery, or be damaged in a number of exciting ways that would not generally have affected the workings of an old-fashioned, antiquated key. Costs associated with fixing or replacing a keyless car key are higher than those associated with cutting an old fashioned car key. In fact, aside from the aforementioned benefit of “not having to put a key in an ignition switch”, keyless car keys are worse than normal keys in almost every way.
And as we're beginning to appreciate, keyless car keys are strikingly bad at their most basic task, which is to stop car thieves from stealing cars. The ease with which a criminal can steal a keyless car, often without physically breaking in to anything, is remarkable.

By removing conventional car keys from car designs, car manufacturers have made cars easier to steal. 
Game-changing innovations that challenge the status quo are never without their haters. UK car safety and security organisation Thatcham Research released a statement this morning warning of the risks associated with ‘keyless go’. According to their so-called findings, four out of seven cars tested had keyless systems susceptible to ‘relay attack’ theft techniques.
“Theft claims paid by insurers in the first quarter of this year were at their highest for any quarter since 2012, with a payment made to a car crime victim every eight minutes,” said Richard Billyeald, Chief Technical Officer at Thatcham Research.  
“These figures demonstrate why the automotive industry must move to secure keyless entry/start systems, many of which offer criminals the chance to quickly and silently circumvent otherwise robust physical security.”

Keyless start systems may indeed increase the likelihood of your car being stolen, and offer criminals the opportunity to take vehicles from their owners’ driveways at night using only a bag of relatively affordable technology and a little bit of gumption. But we can all agree that this is a fair price to pay for the convenience that keyless start systems offer us, and that the wondrous bounty of a keyless future more than makes up for the commensurate increase in car theft currently affecting the UK. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Indeed. A solution to a problem that didnt really exist.
Ive found myself leaving my keys in the car a few times at home when getting out but not locking it Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

I’m sure I read somewhere that one of the reasons/benefits of a keyless start (and placing a start button high up on the dash) is that it prevents serious injury to the drivers knee in an accident as the steering lock can be placed in a safer position.

Anyway, due to the number of thefts in our area of keyless entry (as opposed to keyless start) vehicles, I’ve disarmed the keyless entry on our Evoque. It’s bloody annoying having to fish around in my pocket to lock/unlock the car each time. First world problems, eh?  Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

When we had keyless entry on a few cars in the past I thought it was great, key in pocket when leaving home and it stays there till you get home again.....simples.

Granted not an essential but very handy.

I think the bloke that wrote the article was having a slow day, or has had his car nicked by scanners  Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

I had a senior moment with the keyless entry loan car when my F2 was in for service recdently.

Having parked the car and pressed the "lock" button I wondered just how locked it really was so I tried to open the door and it opened. Shock horror; it wasn't locked. Tried again,then the brain kicked in - the keyless key thing was in my pocket!!!

J

I was puzzled, but now understand.......dummy



That’s the advantage of folding mirrors on lock...... Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

Gill had keyless entry on her 2003 Micra and absolutely loved it, it has taken over a year to get her to accept that her new MG has an old fashioned key.
Would she go back to keyless - in a heartbeat, like she says, who in their right mind would steal an old Micra, or even a newish MG with a nice shiny Land Rover next to it on the drive.

Personally I would rather have the older FL2 system where you have to physically dock the fob in a port, worked for me every time, the car did many many miles for years and the fob system never gave a minutes trouble. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Had an old Clio DCI as a runabout a few years ago and then got a newer one that had the keycard and a push button start. It took me ages to get out of the habit of reaching towards the steering column to turn the engine off using the non existent key!

My wife's Suzuki unlocks when you walk up to it so she can't go back and check that it is actually locked unless someone is with her.  3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

OK.....now that’s VERY keyless..... Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......