Got remote start?

[peejman]

Got a car equipped with remote start? This happened to a coworker the other day....

 

The key fob for his car had been kinda flakey for a while. Sometimes it unlocked the doors, sometimes not. Annoying, but not a big deal. The car was due for an oil change. So while laying on the concrete underneath it, having drained the oil and removed the filter... the car started itself.   :eek:

 

So he's laying underneath a his car that's now happily idling with no oil. As you can imagine, relative panic ensues. The keys were sitting on his work bench, and (of course) the car doors were locked and the windows were rolled up.   :panic:

 

Frantic attempts to shut off the engine and unlock the doors with the key fob didn't work. So he grabbed the nearest handy object and began trying to break the driver's window. It finally broke after a few whacks and he cut his hand while reaching through the broken window to get the key in the ignition and cycle it so he could turn the car off.

 

The car ran for maybe 60 seconds with no oil. Hopefully there's no permanent damage, though time will tell.

 

Lessons learned? There's a reason why every shop manual lists step 1 as "disconnect the battery".

 

Good thing he wasn't doing something major like changing a timing belt with his hands in there when it decided to crank. That likely would have done a lot more than give him a few minor cuts.

 

 

[Omega]

He should file a lawsuit if they can determine the command didn't come from him.  He should also report it to the NTSB to see if there have been other incidents of unintended starts.

[glowdotGlock]

I would've just pulled the plug wires...

[Sam1]

Yeah, the hood should have been up, would've take 2 seconds to yank a wire.

Buy I would have probably been spooked too and not thinking straight.

[Sidecarist]

I would've just pulled the plug wires...

If you could get to them without tools and removing all kinds of shrouding! I long for the old days of cars that had a distributor and a coil...

[peejman]

He should file a lawsuit if they can determine the command didn't come from him.  He should also report it to the NTSB to see if there have been other incidents of unintended starts.

 

 

Nah, he said he dropped the key fob in water a while back.  He knew it was malfunctioning and did nothing about it.  The fact that an unintended start didn't occur to him isn't the OEM's fault. 

 

 

 

If you could get to them without tools and removing all kinds of shrouding! I long for the old days of cars that had a distributor and a coil...

 

 

Kinda yes and kinda no.  Cars were a lot easier to work on back then, but you sure had to work on them a lot more often. 

[jgradyc]

You won't believe this...

 

I wondered how accessible my plug wires were, so I opened the hood to see. They're easily accessible on my 2000 Subaru, but when I looked, one of my plug wires was almost completely in two.  :eek:  One side of the wire was blown off or chewed off... hard to tell. 

 

Not sure what would cause this. It looks kinda like the wire exploded and blew out one side of the covering, but enough of the wire was left to keep running. No burning anywhere on the wire. I'm guessing the spark was jumping the tiny gap so the car was still running, although I had noticed some skipping yesterday. 

 

Back to the OP. How does one change oil without opening the hood? How do you open the hood with the door locked? Why would you lock the door after opening the hood and take the keys out of the car? And finally, doesn't the remote start also unlock the car door?  It just seems like an odd progression of unlikely events.

[-boatman-]

 

 

Back to the OP. How does one change oil without opening the hood? How do you open the hood with the door locked? Why would you lock the door after opening the hood and take the keys out of the car? And finally, doesn't the remote start also unlock the car door?  It just seems like an odd progression of unlikely events.

 

Remote starting locks the doors so no one else can get in and drive it. Also  when you do get in you have to put key in or it will kill the engine when you try to drive it or in the case of push button start, have the key fob with you. As to your other questions I don't have a clue.

[peejman]

Back to the OP. How does one change oil without opening the hood? How do you open the hood with the door locked? Why would you lock the door after opening the hood and take the keys out of the car? And finally, doesn't the remote start also unlock the car door?  It just seems like an odd progression of unlikely events.

 

 

I don't know if the hood was open or closed.  Opening the hood isn't necessary to crawl under a car and remove the oil drain plug.  If the hood was open, the idea of pulling plug wires apparently didn't occur to him.  Don't know how accessible they are anyway.  As stated, the remote start locks the doors. 

[bersaguy]

Well, being an old retired Certified Mechanic I don't recall not opening the hood first thing on any car or truck I was going to work on unless I was plugging a flat tire on the car. Even on an oil change first thing done was rasie the hood period. As for these new fancy Technigological pieces of junk being built today they call cars are killing and maming people just driving down the road with air bags exploding, ignition switches just shutting off and computera taking over the car and not allowing drivers to slow down as the car continues to gain speed and brakes failing to help.  My son was working on one of the pieces of junk a few years back because he is also a certified mechanic when the computer took over and car began to pick up speed. All he did was put the car in neutral and pull hard on emergency brake to stop the vehicle as the motor reveved up till it blew up because the rev limiter in the computer failed because the computer had failed. The average drivers don't know to take it out of gear and pull the cable driven emergency brake. Toyota had to pick up the car from his shop and take it to a dealer that had to fixed the entire car including a new engine.  Shortly there after that model and several others went on manditory re call. 

 

I will continue to own old cars until I am having dirt shoveled in my face with a marble stone for a pillow. I drive a 1997 Jeep Cherokee and that will be the newest vehicle I will ever own.....................jmho 

[peejman]

2nd hand information being what it is, I got it from the horse's mouth....

The car started, he rolled out from under it, grabbed the keys, jumped in, and shut it off. Being pissed, he slammed the door shut with the keys in the car. Then it started again and locked the doors. While frantically searching for wrenches to pull the battery cables (the hood was open), the low oil pressure sensor shut the engine off. Then it started again. The only thing handy was a ratchet so he smashed the window, got the keys, shut the car off, then smashed the key fob.

Edited May 5, 2016 by peejman

[10-Ring]

Can also grab a rag and smother the tail pipe.

[rugerla1]

2nd hand information being what it is, I got it from the horse's mouth....
The car started, he rolled out from under it, grabbed the keys, jumped in, and shut it off. Being pissed, he slammed the door shut with the keys in the car. Then it started again and locked the doors. While frantically searching for wrenches to pull the battery cables (the hood was open), the low oil pressure sensor shut the engine off. Then it started again. The only thing handy was a ratchet so he smashed the window, got the keys, shut the car off, then smashed the key fob.

Dang! That's way worse than the original version with details known at that time. It's not like he thought there was even a slight chance of that happening. If he did, then I'm sure he'd taken the battery cable loose for sure. I wonder what damage was done internally.

[jgradyc]

2nd hand information being what it is, I got it from the horse's mouth....

The car started, he rolled out from under it, grabbed the keys, jumped in, and shut it off. Being pissed, he slammed the door shut with the keys in the car. Then it started again and locked the doors. While frantically searching for wrenches to pull the battery cables (the hood was open), the low oil pressure sensor shut the engine off. Then it started again. The only thing handy was a ratchet so he smashed the window, got the keys, shut the car off, then smashed the key fob.

Thanks. This explains what why the door was locked with keys inside.

[FUJIMO]

Did I miss what vehicle it was or was that never mentioned?

And I assume a factory remote start feature.

[BrasilNuts]

Can also grab a rag and smother the tail pipe.

Or a banana.

[TripleDigitRide]

Or a banana.

[peejman]

Did I miss what vehicle it was or was that never mentioned?

And I assume a factory remote start feature.

Newish Altima. Factory remote start AFAIK.

[Dustbuster]

Check the air in the tires and buy a new remote. pls destroy the old one.

[BrasilNuts]

Glad somebody got it. :D

[hardknox00001]

I would've just pulled the plug wires...

:taser:  :taser:  :taser: