Panic button

A wonderful question that could only be answered by a field test. Start the car with one fob, close the door and push the panic button on the other fob. You have your answer.

The fob only has a range of about 50 or 60 feet so better move fast!

Carjack a Prius????? A Thug environmentalist! What a concept!

 

Great...just one more thing for me to obsess about....

But...do the experiment with ONE fob, as field conditions would likely be...with the fob in YOUR pocket, outside the car. Jackers would likely have a car they could not start, once they have turned it off and thrown you out.

Instead of the smart key, could we please have iris readers? (No fingerprint doojiggers...they could then just cut off your fingers and go...eyeballs are at least a bit safer...) :blink:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Festus @ Aug 18 2006, 12:30 AM) [snapback]305147[/snapback]</div>

Hit the power button on the way out. That would stop the car from moving if the carjacker did not know how to start it.

 

since everthing else on the fob is disabled when the car is on... i would assume panic is too.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Orf @ Aug 18 2006, 12:27 AM) [snapback]305197[/snapback]</div>

Yeah, I'd be hitting the power button on the way out. The car is going nowhere as the fob is always in my pocket. I'd rather not hit the panic button. I'd rather they stay in the car for a minute or so trying to start it . . . which gives me a chance to get further away.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rufaro @ Aug 18 2006, 01:50 AM) [snapback]305157[/snapback]</div>

I have this mental image of you getting up real close to the scanner for it to recognize you (assuming it's on the outside of the vehicle). Off to the side are a couple who murmur, "Jeez, if their eyesight's that bad that they've got to get THAT close to recognize their own car, they probably shouldn't be driving" :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Festus @ Aug 17 2006, 10:30 PM) [snapback]305147[/snapback]</div>

I don't know why, but I tend to lock the doors once I get underway. I guess that would minimize the opportunity to carjackers.

But the question I have is ... If you are using the SKS and have the fob in your pocket, and the car is on, what happens when you get out of the car and walk more than 16 feet away? Does the car stay on and drivable?

Godfrey

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godfrey DiGiorgi @ Aug 18 2006, 10:53 AM) [snapback]305303[/snapback]</div>

I also always lock the doors, and I keep the Fob in my pocket.
It's my understanding that if the fob leaves the interior of the Prius while the Prius is fully powered up, it can be driven any distance until turned off.

 

As much as I think I'd have the wherewithall to discretely hit the power button while some maniac his holding a gun/basball bat/knife to my head, I think it would be[A] hard to do without getting noticed, hard to remember to do under those circumstances, and [C] not worth the risk. I love my Prius, but I love my life more.

Also, I'd probably rather have them drive away than not be able to move because they might just come right back to me for the keys, and be in a less forgiving mood.

 

I agree with the above sentiment ... It is, after all, just a car.

But I wonder why the car would not power down if the key went out of range. Seems to me that would be a sensible security measure. I may not be thinking through all the possibilities, of course.

Godfrey

 

Godfrey did you consider the safety issue of a car just randomly shutting off at full speed? But imho when the fob goes out of range it should at least start beeping and flashing at you (inside...maybe outside).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godfrey DiGiorgi @ Aug 18 2006, 08:29 AM) [snapback]305323[/snapback]</div>

Godfrey Daniel!! (As my mentor W.C. Fields often said.)

I can't believe I read those words in the hallowed halls of PriusChat! The obvious result of a valueless liberal education.

All I can do is remember what the immortal Jack Benny said in similar circumstances:

With a gun pointed at your head and the impatient hijacker screaming in your ear, "Your Prius or your life!" there is but one correct answer....

"I'm thinking......I'm thinking...."

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alnilam @ Aug 18 2006, 09:16 AM) [snapback]305365[/snapback]</div>

It's nice to get a good laugh in the morning! =)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HokieHybrid @ Aug 18 2006, 08:54 AM) [snapback]305341[/snapback]</div>

Um, I wasn't thinking about the case of being on the highway and tossing the fob out the window, no.

I was thinking of the case where the door was opened and the fob left the interior of the car, went out of range. If the range is 16-30 feet, if someone hopped in and mashed the pedal to the floor while I was laying on the ground, it would shut off after 30 feet and coast to a stop. Can't be going all that fast in 30 feet and, well, if someone is trying to steal the car they're going to get out and go running away from my bruised and battered body, most likely... they don't want to return to me in the event that police or other people arrive.

Godfrey

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alnilam @ Aug 18 2006, 09:16 AM) [snapback]305365[/snapback]</div>

LOL ... Old JB was a bit more of a fanatic than I would be.

G

 

I could see it being a huge problem to shut the car off in motion. You're likely to experience that many more times than being carjacked too. As in the key-out-the-window-on-the-highway example above (maybe your small child threw your purse out the window) or any number of more routine circumstances.

And yes, it does beep at you if you take the fob outside the vehicle. Try it some time. My first experience with that was in a grocery store parking lot. I put the car in park and got out. For some reason it beeped at me a few times and the door wouldn't lock

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ichabod @ Aug 18 2006, 01:28 PM) [snapback]305419[/snapback]</div>

An even more common circumstance: SKS and fob battery death. The fob battery will most likely die while the system is in use. As it is, it will just beep at you until you put the fob in the dash slot or replace the battery.

- Tom

 

I say, let him/her take the car, they can't get more than 500 or so miles before the car is unusable to them. Just let me get my cell phone out of the console to call my wife to pick me up. I'm sure they would trust me not to call 911.

 

Well you could actually equip your Prius with technology that would tell you where it was.

No kidding:

Check this out.....

Real time vehicle tracking

$500 plus the cost of "pinging" the car when you want to find it. They said something like a "quarter" to do that.

You may laugh but who the heck knows? The Prius someday may become so popular that it might be a good candidate to being stolen. A solution like this could be an answer.

Ok, flame me. hehe