Denny Swift

My neighbor has a 992 4S. I hard wired his radar detector for him last week. I did the work at my house. When I was finished, I called and told him that I was done but I needed a 5 amp fuse (I had every size but that). He walked over to my house, and he drove us to a local Advance Auto. Then he drove me home, dropped me off, and without shutting the car off, drove to his house, which is about 300 yards away. After he got home, he called me to say that he couldn't find his key. I reached into my pocket and realized that I had it there the whole time.

He says the car didn't give him any warning that he was driving without the key. So, I'm really curious to know what would have happened if I lived a couple of miles away. Would his car just have died on the side of the road? What if my wife drives to her office, gets out, and then I drive to my office, and we forget that the key is in her pocket? I'm sure that as soon as I shut the car off (either at my office or a gas station, etc.) I'd be stranded. Her office if just off a major highway. If this scenario happened, I wouldn't get any warning until I was on the highway and miles from the nearest exit.

Without getting into a debate over the advantages/disadvantages of a "keyless" start system, I'm really surprised I haven't heard about this problem occurring before. I think it's crazy that the car would not notify you immediately both audibly and visually as soon as it can't detect the key.

rgoldm2

My wife and I have done this before while launching the boat. I’ve gotten into the boat and driven off and she has the car without a key. She has always been able to drive it back to our house(maybe a mile) but it tells her she doesn’t have it. That was in a Land Rover though.

22992

Common. Yes, if you start the car you will be able to drive it without the key. Obviously, once you shut it off you can’t start it again. Cars in the north are stolen often because someone goes out to the car in winter to start it, warm it up. Goes back inside and someone breaks the window and drives it away. if you have remote start the above is not possible.

Richard_Wallace

On of my sports cars a several years back had a valet key, it would go like 5 miles or something before literally shutting down no matter where you were. My then girlfriend / now wife drove my car home (I was not in the car) - the valets didn't realize that that it was a valet key (I parked it up front of the restaurant) but give them the valet key in case they have to move it or whatever.) She did it as a joke, as she at the time had a jeep wrangler (that was terrible). So I ended up driving that to her place. She did it as a joke, so I would have to drive her car.

My wife gets in, and it is almost exactly 5 miles to her then place. It died just pulling into her drive (just at the beginning of it) - she called me and said your new sports car literally just died in my driveway. I was thankful that it wasn't on the highway.. She said it did a complete and sudden power down.

Now you know why there is no limit to these valet keys, etc. anymore, as can cause a dangerous situation..

kayjh

Both my 2021 cayenne GTS and my wife's 2018 Honda Odyssey emit a tone when you leave the car running, and exit with the key. But you can still drive the vehicles without the key until you turn them off. Then, no start.

Noah Fect

What kind of radar detector takes 5 amps? Asking for a friend in the USAF

Drew46

Agreed that it should make a tone. My wife's Audi does.

Richard is spot on - you would not want the car to suddenly shut down when it loses contact with the key. Imagine if you were merging onto a busy highway or crossing a tough intersection and the battery craps out or the connection is just lost and the car shuts down.

ritchieg

As stated by many, once started it will run until it is out of gas. The main thing to remember is never leave the car running when you get out of it. Under our countries current situation there are people just waiting to steal your car because if caught nothing happens to them. We live in a free society where anything you get is yours.