One nice thing about the keyless start mechanism is that those heavy key rings can’t damage the ignition switch anymore. I’ve told Mrs JT to take her car keys off her Yooge key ring so that the weight doesn’t damage the ignition switch. There are a lot of people that still put all that weight on the ignition though.
I thought you were trying to lock her purse in the car so she wouldn’t buy everything that was on sale.
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Yeah, my wife is one of them too…plus she has one of those “wristlets” attached to her key ring too…If I ever borrow her keys it’s the first thing I take off. Not only to remove the weight, but because it drives me nuts bouncing off of my leg…
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My wife’s Lexus Es350 is push button. I prefer it. So does wife. Wife doesn’t have to fumble through pocketbook to find key. Really nice when it’s raining or bitter cold out. Car is 10 years old and almost 180 k miles. Never an issue with system. Have to replace battery every 5 years or so
My 2013 Camry has a physical key in the fob that can lock the doors with the fob inside the car, even with the car running.
this is all very good perspectives. all the cars I have owned have had normal keys. If I want a spare, I can go to my local hardware store and someone can make a key very quickly and for a couple bucks. I also like key because in winter, I can use one key to turn car on for warm up and lock the car. Then when I am ready, I use another key to unlock door. I do not know how to perform this in a new car with the button and with the door unlocking when you touch handle with FOB.
The new push buttons are nice. But I wish they all had some type of proximity alarm or cut off. We have heard of several cases where folks thought they turned the car off in the garage but did not, the car was still running and filled the house with CO. A beeping or having the engine stop when the key is out of range would help prevent that. But won’t help if you always leave the key in the car when it is in the garage
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Folks here have complained about the cost of replacements, and sometimes there seems to be some difficulty for a shop to efficiently diagnose why the electronic key isn’t working; for example IIRC a recent post here was about one that worked only intermittently. I prefer a plain ol’ key myself, one you can take to the hardware store to duplicate for $3.75 to have a spare on hand. Not sure if electronic keys are more or less secure. Electronic locks can be hacked, regular locks can be picked. Other than the duplication and repair expense, 6 of one, half dozen of the other.
Been there, done that with a work rental in VA. lol
The Ford Edge SUV I had was so quite running, I didn’t notice that I left it running until after I came back from inside Boston Market just after having a meal on my way home from work!
I will admit it’s a great feature if your carrying something with both arms and don’t need to put it down to reach for your keys in your pocket. Downside at the time was the fob was around $1,000 to replace unlike the $300 the OP mentioned. Also some vehicle don’t have a lock button when exiting so you need to “trust” that it just locks when your out of range of the vehicle which I had to test myself.
It is a lot easier for today’s crooks to steal a push button start car. With new scanner technology these crooks have, they capture your car code when you use the key fob to lock the car. Now it is their car to steal. They get in and drive away. With a key, they have to use a slide hammer to pull the key core out of the column. It then looks like they are stealing your car and someone might call the police.
Snopes website has a good article that shows you are repeating urban legend. The time and effort to stand in a parking lot waiting for right moment to use such a device is more trouble than most car thieves will go to. Since the early 90’s most remote vehicle systems have rolling codes.
If you have a push button starting system find something else to be paranoid about.
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Volvo is correct. The unlock/start remotes generate a new code for every time a button is pushed. The key-fob and the car use the same algorithm to generate the next code from the previous one.
That algorithm is a possible weak point, but it seems to still be secure.
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If a professional thief wants your car badly enough to sit around monitoring frequencies of remote entry, he will find a better way to steal your car. On the other hand, an amateur thief can break your ignition switch with ease. Even a double edged key is very low tech. Heck, a former dealership employee might even be able to cut a key for your car just by getting the VIN.
People have been stealing cars for as long as there have been cars. High tech, low tech, it can all be done. Last week my friend had his Chevy S-10 stolen out of his driveway. The police found a bag of shaved keys in the front seat–keys with the high points shaved off that will work in moderately worn cylinders if you jiggle them just right. Electronic fobs seem a world of improvement over that.
What self respecting crook would steal an S-10 @asemaster? Someone once asked if I worried when I left my windows rolled down on my S-10 in parking lots. I assured them that I could leave the ignition key resting on a $5 bill on the dash and no one would bother anything because no one paid any attention to the old truck. Maybe we have discriminating crooks here.
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Use it as a mule. Grab the S-10 and go rob as much stuff as will fit in the bed. Then take it all to your favorite fence. The S-10 could pay a little extra if it is broken down for parts. Or just leave it on the side of the road after the heist is completed.
Actually, it’s an extended cab long-bed S-10. It was a company truck from one of the parts houses, the outside salesman drove it. It had a long block replaced and was a nice clean truck, when for some reason the powers that be decided to retire it. The wholesale counterman bought it for a steal. He has since replaced interior with leather seats and a carpet/console kit, nice set of wheels and tires, and a little sound system. Guess he did everything but an alarm!
Mine was an extended cab 5 speed that a customer unloaded on me cheap. While I kept it washed and well maintained it accumulated all the dings and scratches that most work trucks suffer and I just considered the scars as adding character to the truck. And BTW, the ignition key was always in the ignition switch. I broke the top off the key and left it in the column until I sold it.
Sounds like it was quite a nice truck
Too bad your neighbor had it stolen 
It also sounds a little unusual . . . I’ve never seen an extended cab S10 with a long bed
I happen to think S10s aren’t bad trucks, for what they are. One of the weaknesses, IMO, is that the suspension and steering seems to wear out quite fast, especially those upper a-arm bushings. And let’s not forget the rather weak door hinge/bushing design and the seatback release mechanism, which was potmetal. But every vehicle has its particular set of weaknesses and strengths.
As far as I’m concerned, 4.3 V6 and the automatic are the only way to go. The 4 banger option always seemed a little gutless, especially if there was actually something in the bed, such as a toolbox
They’re easy to spot in parking lots, because they stick out of even the largest parking spaces, causing bottlenecks in parking lots. There is one in the parking lot of my apartment building, and it’s a miracle nobody has hit it.