meaning (for example) that your car doesn't automatically shut down if you are parked waiting to pick someone up, and your key fob battery dies. The car can't tell the difference between no key or a dead fob battery--either way, it says "no key detected".

 

I am sure the car will not shut off if you are waiting for someone.


I don’t understand why you are so against this feature. New Ford Explorer will automatically shut off as well.

 

Each one of these mandated "automatic" features increases the cost of vehicles.

I'm more in favor of people taking personal responsibility, rather than just demand that their cars should turn themselves off.

Why should I have to remember to turn my lights on? It should do it for me! Why should I have to remember to lock my car? It should do it for me! Why should I have to remember to turn off my car? It should do it for me! Why should I have to remember my kid is in the car? It should do it for me!

But, I'm not really *against* this system. I'm against *requiring* it so people don't have to worry about suffocating in their house because they don't have the ability to notice that they are walking away from a running car in their own garage. THAT is not a reason, to me, to add this feature. That's an argument for periodic re-testing to get your driver's license renewed.

How are you sure? It's literally the exact same thing--a car sitting idling for a period of time. How is the car supposed to know you are parked waiting to pick someone up vs. the car parked in the garage with the key fob in the cupholder?

 

How would it know you were waiting for someone? Thats the problem.

 

How does the car know someone is not in the passenger seat as the passenger airbags are deactivated? Weight sensor.

Or, how does the car know that the proximity sensor for the key fob is on one side of the car, in the car, or at the back of the car? Suppose the feature only works if it DOES not detect a proximity key.

 

Modern Toyotas already know that someone is not sitting in the passenger seat. So no air bag activation. I guess you just add something similar

 

The auto companies went through that problem back in 1974, with the public outcry against the no-start sensors that disabled the ignition switch if weight was detected in the right-front seat and the seat-belts were not buckled. Back then, the relatively primitive sensors could not tell the difference between an adult, a child, or just a package/grocery-bag sitting on the seat. Today, the electronics and sensors are considerably more advanced.

 

But how does it know you're waiting for somebody who is going to come sit in that seat?

Thats just the thing, the car doesnt know the difference between no key and a key with a dead battery, all the car knows is theres "no key".

 

It would know that nobody is in the driver’s seat without weight. So 30 minutes, car shuts off. Or, it would know that the proximity sensor has left the building. Does that not seem workable here?

 

Fair point about the seat sensor.

However, not detecting the key fob can be an issue, again, if the fob battery is dead.

 

Toyota fobs are designed to still work with minimal juice. Hold it next to the starter button when low on battery. So not much is different than now. I am assuming Toyota will think all of this through

I do get your concerns about cost etc etc and they are valid. But at the same time, we live in 2019 where we have cell phones that can start cars and all sorts of stuff. I imagine the cost to all this would be minimal.

 

I know how to perform an emergency start. But it doesn't change the fact that the car will detect no key, and under certain of the conditions we are brainstorming, will automatically shut the car off.

Yes, we have tech like cell phones, and apps. But this conversation started because of elderly drivers who didn't even know that they left their car running. The solution isn't additional layers of technology.

 

so if there is no key detection, what happens? I do not see what you mean.

 

We are talking about various scenarios where someone walks away from their car with the engine running, and the car having a system where it will automatically shut down in that circumstance. But if one of the parameters for that system is the key not being detected, the system will get a false positive for "no key" if the key fob battery dies.

 

Yes. I guess that is possible.