_steve
03-12-2008, 02:03 PM
I'm the sort of person that likes to start the car on icy mornings, put the seat heater and AC on full, switch on the rear dmister and then spray over some de-icer outside, lock the car with the spare key and return to the house to finish my cuppa whilst the car is warming on my driveway....
...this was easy with my older cars...
..but with the new car and its Advanced Key i assumed that the car would not drive without its key, so this morning left the car running, left the key in my pocket, and went into the house to finish my cuppa - i touched the door handle with my finger to try and get the doors to lock but the advanced key system didn't want to lock, as its a fairly secure area i live in i was happy enough to leave the car open, as there was nothing to steal from within. After my cuppa i went back out to the car and got in, seat belt on and went off down the drive - only then did the car beep to say "no key identified" ! yet it would let me drive off..... the key was still in the kitchen in the house.
after an experiment this lunchtime at work i've taken the car out for a 5 mile journey without its key (after starting it with the key in my pocket, and then leaving the key in the office).
I have had clifford intellistart alarms on cars before, where if you didn't enter a pin code after getting into the car it would wait while you were stopped with the brakes applied, and it would cut the engine. I'd half guessed that the Audi advanced system would do the same.
so please don't leave your cars idling away, thinking they were safe as you had the keys in your pocket, your car can still be stolen.
(i wonder what the insurance company would make of this if your car was nicked without the keys in this circumstance?)
...this was easy with my older cars...
..but with the new car and its Advanced Key i assumed that the car would not drive without its key, so this morning left the car running, left the key in my pocket, and went into the house to finish my cuppa - i touched the door handle with my finger to try and get the doors to lock but the advanced key system didn't want to lock, as its a fairly secure area i live in i was happy enough to leave the car open, as there was nothing to steal from within. After my cuppa i went back out to the car and got in, seat belt on and went off down the drive - only then did the car beep to say "no key identified" ! yet it would let me drive off..... the key was still in the kitchen in the house.
after an experiment this lunchtime at work i've taken the car out for a 5 mile journey without its key (after starting it with the key in my pocket, and then leaving the key in the office).
I have had clifford intellistart alarms on cars before, where if you didn't enter a pin code after getting into the car it would wait while you were stopped with the brakes applied, and it would cut the engine. I'd half guessed that the Audi advanced system would do the same.
so please don't leave your cars idling away, thinking they were safe as you had the keys in your pocket, your car can still be stolen.
(i wonder what the insurance company would make of this if your car was nicked without the keys in this circumstance?)