Push Button Start

[MikeM.]

You did not read the fact that he was an hours drive from home, about 60 miles.
Don

I did read that. A 60 mile tow is not cheap and would be my last resort. Most tow operators insurance prohibits the customer riding in the cab (although many operators allow it anyway). My CX-5 manual only recommends flatbed towing which is often more expensive.

Next day air (key delivery) is often a better option. Of course it does depend upon the particulars.

 

[piotrek91]

I did read that. A 60 mile tow is not cheap and would be my last resort. Most tow operators insurance prohibits the customer riding in the cab (although many operators allow it anyway). My CX-5 manual only recommends flatbed towing which is often more expensive.

Next day air (key delivery) is often a better option. Of course it does depend upon the particulars.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and assume that most people don't have the urge to sit in a sporting goods parking lot, or get a room to wait overnight for their car key to arrive..
With a AAA Plus membership a 100 mi tow is free. Most respectable tow operators will show up for a 60 mile tow with a flatbed.

 

[bxpretzel]

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and assume that most people don't have the urge to sit in a sporting goods parking lot, or get a room to wait overnight for their car key to arrive..
With a AAA Plus membership a 100 mi tow is free. Most respectable tow operators will show up for a 60 mile tow with a flatbed.

+1 this is why I have AAA regardless of Mazda's "roadside assistance."

 

[minnesotaart]

+1 this is why I have AAA regardless of Mazda's "roadside assistance."

Heh, I kinda forgot about the Mazda roadside assistance! I have AAA.

 

[flyfisherdon]

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and assume that most people don't have the urge to sit in a sporting goods parking lot, or get a room to wait overnight for their car key to arrive..
With a AAA Plus membership a 100 mi tow is free. Most respectable tow operators will show up for a 60 mile tow with a flatbed.

That is exactly what he used, except in his case it was BCAA, and the tow truck driver did allow him to ride with him in the tow truck.
Don

 

[vroom]

One situation off the top of my head (and I'm sure I could come up with many more):

Say you live in a coastal city and it's a cold winter morning. You go outside, start your car to defrost and go back inside to finish your cup of coffee. After a couple of minutes you hear the local tsunami warning system alert. You know you only have minutes to get to higher ground, you grab your spouse and children and rush to your idling vehicle, completely forgetting you have left your keys on the kitchen table. After making sure your family is loaded you put the vehicle into gear only to have some nanny system immediately kill the engine.

Much better to have a warning chime that allows you to drive away in an emergency.

You usually have good arguments MikeM, and I quite enjoy reading them, but this time I think you are pushing it a bit...

The odds of the average US citizen dying in a tsunami is probably less than 1 in 500 000 (source). Assuming that about 1 in 5 people live in cold enough climate and want to idle their car for about 10 minutes every day (there are 1440 minutes in a day) for 3 months out of 12, the chance of dying in a tsunami under the circumstances you describe are 1 in 1 440 000 000. One in 1.44 billion. And my estimate is very conservative, it's probably less than that. That's exactly 10 times less likely than being struck by lightning twice in your lifetime (lightning strick odds).

Now according to 2005 statistics, you have about a 1 in 240 chance of your car being stolen per year. In a 60 year driving life, that is a 1 in 4 chance of having your car stolen. Even if you don't, car theft leads you to suffer financial consequences (higher insurance premiums, etc.).

I'd rather Mazda attack the problem of car theft than death by tsunami.

 

[capnfatpants]

Hey guys, I'd hate to disrupt "hypothetical situation hour"... i'm surprised no one has mentioned a toddler throwing the keys out the window while on the highway... but anyway, I digress.

What happens when you press the start/stop button while you're driving? It's something I didn't see in the manual and I always imagined that there would be a safety switch that didn't allow it to turn off? After all, it's a giant button right next to the wheel and prone to bumps. I'm not brave enough to try it myself, but this article got me wondering... http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/06/autos/ford-push-button-ignition-recall/index.html

edit to add - if you leave your car running with conventional keys in the ignition not only will your car get stolen, but now your house can be more easily broken into. I don't see how walking away from it while it's running is any different with the push button or conventional key. If you're concerned about theft, don't leave your car running, take the battery in the house and secure it in a vault, and finally weld the doors shut. That'll stop 'em.

 

[capnfatpants]

RE: the key on the ferry.
I know this has passed and you already moved on with your life, but should there be a next time why not have your wife send the key back over on the ferry? I don't know the commute time of the ferries, but I can't imagine it would be much longer than waiting for a tow.

 

[craigo]

Hey guys, I'd hate to disrupt "hypothetical situation hour"... i'm surprised no one has mentioned a toddler throwing the keys out the window while on the highway... but anyway, I digress.

What happens when you press the start/stop button while you're driving? It's something I didn't see in the manual and I always imagined that there would be a safety switch that didn't allow it to turn off? After all, it's a giant button right next to the wheel and prone to bumps. I'm not brave enough to try it myself, but this article got me wondering... http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/06/autos/ford-push-button-ignition-recall/index.html

edit to add - if you leave your car running with conventional keys in the ignition not only will your car get stolen, but now your house can be more easily broken into. I don't see how walking away from it while it's running is any different with the push button or conventional key. If you're concerned about theft, don't leave your car running, take the battery in the house and secure it in a vault, and finally weld the doors shut. That'll stop 'em.

I read this today, that is really bad design. According to the cx-5 manual you would have to rapidly and repeatedly press the button to shut off while driving. One push won't do it.

Also it should go without saying, the start button should not be reasonably near other controls that are operated in the same way.

 

[MikeM.]

RE: the key on the ferry.
I know this has passed and you already moved on with your life, but should there be a next time why not have your wife send the key back over on the ferry? I don't know the commute time of the ferries, but I can't imagine it would be much longer than waiting for a tow.

+1

Great idea!

 

[MikeM.]

The odds of the average US citizen dying in a tsunami is probably less than 1 in 500 000 (source).

Yes, but I made it very clear at the beginning that this scenario was only one specific scenario of many. Many Westerners live in forest fire areas, there is also the possibility of nuclear attack (yes, it is survivable if you are not in the immediate blast area and leave quickly enough). There could be home invasions, rapists, etc. There are many reasons why one might need to leave in an unexpected hurry and would be devastated if the engine died as soon as they put the car in gear.

My point is simply that an audible chime and visual flashing light is more than adequate warning that you forgot your key fob.

As for car theft, that's just a material loss (replaceable). There is no danger. Hint: Never leave a child unattended in a running vehicle.

Mazda designed this system with the proper priorities (safety, human life).

 

[vroom]

As for car theft, that's just a material loss (replaceable). There is no danger.

Between 1994 and 2002 in the US there were 2654 fatal crashes involving 3965 vehicles and 3146 fatalities due to police chases, 18% of which were from cars reported stolen (source). (Man, you can find just about anything on the Internet! ). That does not include the loss of life due nervous and speeding car theives and joy riding youths without the aid of a police chase.

My point is that you would probably need a few million of your unlikely examples to compensate for the detrimental effect of theft on society, safety and human life.

Sorry all, I think that MikeM and I just enjoy a good argument! Now let's all plese get back to the subject at hand...

 

[MikeM.]

I imagine Mazda is more concerned about the life of the rightful owner than they are of a car thief.

I've been driving cars/riding motorcycles for over 35 years and I've never had one stolen and I don't know anyone else who has.

It's just not even a concern of mine. Have you considered moving to a safer area?

 

[flyfisherdon]

RE: the key on the ferry.
I know this has passed and you already moved on with your life, but should there be a next time why not have your wife send the key back over on the ferry? I don't know the commute time of the ferries, but I can't imagine it would be much longer than waiting for a tow.

The ferry is a 2 hour ferry, the wife does not have a cel phone to be called to send her key, Who is she going to send the key with? I should also send a picture of the BC ferry but I don't have one, just google Duke Point to Tswassen ferry, probably carries over 200 vehicles, also he would have had to take a cab or get a ride 20 miles to the ferry terminal.
Who does she leave her key with? Easier to get it towed, home in one hour.
Don
Don

 

[capnfatpants]

The ferry is a 2 hour ferry, the wife does not have a cel phone to be called to send her key, Who is she going to send the key with? I should also send a picture of the BC ferry but I don't have one, just google Duke Point to Tswassen ferry, probably carries over 200 vehicles, also he would have had to take a cab or get a ride 20 miles to the ferry terminal.
Who does she leave her key with? Easier to get it towed, home in one hour.
Don
Don

Yeah, a 2 hour ferry ride is pretty long. I also didn't catch the part that you/he went to a sporting goods store and turned the car off and got stranded there. But, to answer your question, she could have left the key with the crew on the return boat (so, a 4 hour wait). Typically the crews of ferries are helpful and human. Also since they are canadian, I'm assuming nice (are stereotypes offensive if they are positive?).
My wife's family spends summers on an island in lake erie. We will often send things on the ferry and have them pick it up on the other side. It's a MUCH smaller ferry with a familiar crew, but I'd imagine it would still be possible to arrange something. The lack of cell phone would make things a lot harder, so much so that yes, a tow truck would be much more reasonable... calling the station to have the cabin page your wife? I don't know, hopefully you'll never have to know either.

 

[hp79]

Hey guys, I'd hate to disrupt "hypothetical situation hour"... i'm surprised no one has mentioned a toddler throwing the keys out the window while on the highway... but anyway, I digress.

What happens when you press the start/stop button while you're driving? It's something I didn't see in the manual and I always imagined that there would be a safety switch that didn't allow it to turn off? After all, it's a giant button right next to the wheel and prone to bumps. I'm not brave enough to try it myself, but this article got me wondering... http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/06/autos/ford-push-button-ignition-recall/index.html
...

I tried pressing the start/stop button while driving in an empty parking lot while coasting in N just in case to protect my transmission. Nothing happened. I think you have to hold it for more than couple seconds to shut it off. All cars with start/stop button I tried works this way so you don't have to worry about somebody accidentally hitting that button. I think it's much safer than turning the actual key like in old days.

Mazda's implementation is better than my 2015 MINI. MINI doesn't even check whether the key is inside or not and stupidly starts the fuel pump every time I open the door or turn on the lights while parked in my garage. I can't start the engine without the key being inside, but I wish it would check for the keys all the time just like Mazda.

I always keep my keys in my pocket when driving, so I can't imagine losing the key after taking off. That would be dumb, but I understand dumb things happen.

 

[Bon Scott]

Perhaps a strange question for this thread....but here it goes. Can I start my CX-5 with my fob in my pocket....and leave the engine running while I go inside my house to get something (fob still inside my pocket)?? Does this hurt the engine if the fob is taken away from the vehicle while it is running?? I ask this because of the resume play issue on the USB. I'd rather leave the engine running (and therefore not have to reload my USB stick if I have to turn the engine off before going inside and then coming back out to the vehicle). Is there any harm to the vehicle by leaving it running but the fob taken away from the vehicle for a small period of time??

Bon

 

[MikeM.]

Is there any harm to the vehicle by leaving it running but the fob taken away from the vehicle for a small period of time??

Bon

The only risk is that your key fob could become lonely but that only happens if your particular key fob is genetically predisposed to loneliness. (wink)

Seriously though, no, not an issue.

 

[capnfatpants]

I tried pressing the start/stop button while driving in an empty parking lot while coasting in N just in case to protect my transmission. Nothing happened. I think you have to hold it for more than couple seconds to shut it off. All cars with start/stop button I tried works this way so you don't have to worry about somebody accidentally hitting that button. I think it's much safer than turning the actual key like in old days.

Mazda's implementation is better than my 2015 MINI. MINI doesn't even check whether the key is inside or not and stupidly starts the fuel pump every time I open the door or turn on the lights while parked in my garage. I can't start the engine without the key being inside, but I wish it would check for the keys all the time just like Mazda.

I always keep my keys in my pocket when driving, so I can't imagine losing the key after taking off. That would be dumb, but I understand dumb things happen.

Always keeping your keys in your pocket is exactly why you'll forget them one day. I do the same, so I always assume my keys are in my pocket. Well, one day, I started my car and gave my keys to my wife to lock the house up and she got back in the car and kept the keys in her pocket. Everything was fine till I dropped her off at a store and off she went with my keys. Had this been a drop off for a 2 hour ferry ride, we (had the kids in the car) would have been royally screwed... probably would have had to call a tow truck. I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't assume you know where your keys are... keep a mental eye on them.

Bon, no problem with that. I do it all the time, the car just beeps at you a little. Also, I hope you don't plan on sleeping in your car.

 

[MikeM.]

Always keeping your keys in your pocket is exactly why you'll forget them one day. I do the same, so I always assume my keys are in my pocket. Well, one day, I started my car and gave my keys to my wife to lock the house up and she got back in the car and kept the keys in her pocket. Everything was fine till I dropped her off at a store and off she went with my keys.

You can't forget it if it's in your pocket.

There are no keys attached to my fob so there's no reason to take it out of my pocket.