[PearlJam]

Originally Posted by Aditya

There have been cases when older people have just forgotten to turn off their cars’ engines after parking in the garage (attached to their house) and walking off.

As a few others mentioned, I absolutely absolutely cannot imagine anybody doing this, that too on a regular basis. This is the basic core and spirit of driving, and I'm not even talking about enthusiasts. It has nothing to do with how silent/refined the engine is.

While I don't want to be insensitive, I would request people to read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_age_and_driving and form their own judgements. Allowing older people to drive itself is a debatable topic, and might be an apt topic on a new thread.

Originally Posted by Turbohead

The problem becomes worse for older people as their hearing abilities would've reduced

Again, I think this deserves a separate thread by itself - "Should hearing impaired be allowed to drive in India". I add "India" because of the complexities involved here - especially when "honking" plays an important role.

[Durango Dude]

I keep the radio or music on most of the time and it serves as a reminder that the car is running, I haven't faced this problem till date have had the car for more than 2 years: Honda City.

[Stranger17]

I had a similar incident at my sister's wedding. Early in the morning after the marriage, I had to see off my sister and brother in law to their house as per the ritual,so I started my car but elders told me that I had to go in their car and I handed my car to my cousin. Upon coming back with my cousin I told him to take the car out of parking with me standing a little away from the car but the car wouldn't start thats when I realized that I had the smart key in my pocket all the time, luckily he didn't turn off the car in between otherwise he would have been stranded in middle of the road.

[NiInJa]

I recently bought a car with keyless entry system, while its convenient to lock and unlock the car, I feel the start-stop button is just for show-off and there is actually no better use-case compared to keys as I now have to:
- Remember in which pocket I have kept the keys every time I use the car.
- Be mindful where I kept it out in the cupholder as the thing costs a lot if misplaced
- make sure its not soaked in water as I am not sure if its waterproof. The key that comes with it is only for locking/unlocking doors. Had to keep that in a plastic bag during a recent monsoon expedition.

Not that I have ever forgotten to switch the car off, all thanks to the car's noise, but I do see such thing happening in future.

[Bh.P]

What is the rationale behind letting the engine run endlessly when the fob is out of the car? Can it not be turned off automatically, say after 5 mins of fob being outside the car, or even lesser?

[silverado]

I find it really strange! cars however silent must be making some amount of noise once inside the garage.
However this has happened with my car inside Maruti Suzuki service centre ( Which is noisy ), where they didn't realize my car was running for full 1 hour during service, until I saw it ( RPM gauge ).

How does this make keyless ignition responsible?
This can happen with normal ignition type as well.

If someone forgets to press the button, they might as well forget to remove the key.

Also I guess people do not lock their cars once inside the garage in USA?
One simple thing people can do here is to keep the lights in Auto mode.

These will light up once inside garage ,and will remind you to switch off the car.
Indians needs not worry here, we all have lovely neighbor's who will come and alert you even if you forget to close down that window

Car keeps running even when FOB is away, but will keep beeping continuously. This is to make things convenient for owner which is the reason why we have pure keyless.

[dinesharun]

Most of the cars today have a detection mechanism (based on weight detection in the seats) to alert if there is a person sitting in the car and is not wearing the seat belt. Based on this the car could detect that there are no persons inside it and if the car is idling for long time with no persons inside it can be safely shutdown. There can also be other methods for this. So technically it is not a unsolvable issue. Only that the chosen solution has to pass the cost-benefit analysis of the car maker.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by silverado

Car keeps running even when FOB is away, but will keep beeping continuously.

Yeah, our new Swift petrol is really silent, so I've gotten out of the car a couple of times before pushing the off button. But the beeping starts up at once.

As for the usefulness of a push-button start, personally I find it very helpful. Am someone who is famous in the family for locking the keys in the car- have done it on at least three different occasions, two of them on highway drives! Of course, that was on the older cars. But still, not having to insert a key and not having to remember to remove it is a blessing and I can just keep the key in my pocket all the time.

I guess as we go electric, cars are just going to become more silent and some sort of audio alert as soon as the driver exits the car with the engine running should become a norm.

[tp_dominator]

As others have pointed out, Ecosport comes with this Auto engine off feature after 30 minutes of idling but IIRC no other car with push button start-stop comes with this feature on the lower end of 15 lakhs, I may be wrong. But it also needs to be enabled on the Ecosport and its buried deep inside a myriad of info on the Ecosport MID.

For Hector (or Venue) I remember seeing a video review which mentioned that with the remote engine on feature, the max the engine can run is 30 minutes or 1 hour post which it shuts off automatically. So, I think car makers are thinking of this sceanrio too and not just such horrific incidences make them notice how to refine a provided feature.

[jithin23]

Originally Posted by tp_dominator

But it also needs to be enabled on the Ecosport and its buried deep inside a myriad of info on the Ecosport MID.

The engine off feature is enabled by default from the factory. If one wishes to turn it off, then they have to search within the MID

[gururajrv]

This is concerning in fact. My car throws out a beep when the engines running and I take the key fob out. It’s audible enough but could’ve been a little more louder. But, nevertheless drivers should be cautious to avoid such issues from occurring. We can’t even blame them because older generations are indeed used for the old type key ignition. Call it a habit!

New cars have a lot of tech. Hope the company introduces a key fob with sound indicator when the engines running or vibrates continuously to notify the driver of a car with a running engine.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the International Scene. Thanks for sharing!

Forgetting to switch off the engine is really the height of carelessness. That said, of late, I've noticed that a lot of the newer cars give out a loud + prominent beep if you walk away with the smartkey in your pocket & leaving the engine running. I thought this was more of a "smartkey not in car" warning, but now I know the real reason.

Irrespective, car makers should put a sort of a timer. Say, an MID prompt after 30 minutes of idling. If you don't press "OK", the engine switches off.

Old habits die hard, and one can't teach an old dog new tricks.

At least for the older people who have been used to switching off the car with a key, I can understand how change in the habit may have caused this fatal mistake.


What I fail to understand is why is the car engine allowed to run even when the fob is not in proximity?

What applies to the entry or start must also apply to the exit or stop too.

[Nitrous Power]

Originally Posted by honeybee

What I fail to understand is why is the car engine allowed to run even when the fob is not in proximity?

What applies to the entry or start must also apply to the exit or stop too.

This is due to safety issue and American Federal Laws mandates the car companies. Car won’t know when it is safe to turn itself off in case Key Fob is not detected within car. What if Fob battery dies while you are driving on freeway? You don’t want your car to turn off on its own in that case. Counter argument can be made that, car can turn itself off when in Park after battery dies. However, that method is also not full proof as there will be scenarios where you don’t want car to shut itself down once in P due to safety reasons. Besides that, car’s safety system will lock steering if it’s moved little bit when car is turned off and you don’t want that to happen just because your FOB battery died in middle of your trip. There are so many scenarios that will turn into safety hazard if car shuts itself down on its own just because Key Fob is not detected inside.

[honeybee]

Thanks. I guess I shall just stick to the old key method to start and stop the car :-p

Pre owned simpler cars for a few more years please!

[spgv]

May be a CO(Carbon Monoxide) sensor hooked up to on-board computer would help. Say shutting the engine automatically on sensing CO. Also coupled with other sensors viz (proximity or the radars to detect confined space).Cost wise CO sensors etc. do not cost much.