Yes, yeah, yup, affirmative
.
To many stories on cars being stolen
from people leaving their keys in or hidden on thier car for me to do that. I put mine in a small Otter box along with my wallet and put the box in my deck bag.
No lock
I think the simplest solution is not to leave the key in the car!
Hide it anywhere you like, under the spare tire, under the driver seat, in the truck under a pile of junk… Just don’t put it in the glove compartment which is where everyone looks for first thing!
If someone has the time and privacy to rummage around your car for half an hour to find your hiden key to drive it away, he’s going to get your car even without your key anyway!
I’m a firm believer of the saying “keys only lock the owner out”. Just don’t leave it on plain sight. It’s as safe as you’ve taken the key with you.
The magnetic boxes fall off
My husband used to use one and he lost a key that way.
I’ll never use that method, though I agree that redundancy is good. I think a standard key in a secured pocket or drybox, plus another key inside a bag/box in a hatch would suffice for redundancy: one on your body and one on the kayak.
In my case, a key in the PFD pocket and the DEI fob in a drybag/box in the hatch would do the trick. I can arm/disarm the antitheft system without the DEI fob (only need the key to get inside the truck first), and I can use the DEI fob to open/lock the doors.
Too bad the combination locks are easy to hack. No key OR remote needed!
Xb
how do you like it?
VW/Audi/valet key
My Audi has pretty much the same big crazy key.
My valet key is a real key. Just the flip out “switchblade” part with a molded on fixed head and no remote buttons.
I got 2 of the remote ones like you - and one valet -and one weird strip thing I need to get more keys made.
I plan to get more of the valet keys made, and carry those. I think they cost over $30 a pop. The full key around $100!
I keep either in a small aqaupac in PFD pocket. Secure enough to protect the regular key.
(For others to understand - these electronic keys also do physically open doors and turn ignition - but they are cut weird - with a wiggly groove routed in instead of teeth)
Another reason to consider dropping out
of human society. In one of the five books of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy there is a character who dropped out of human society because he did not want any part of a society who required instructions for use printed on a box of toothpicks. I feel the same way about a society where car keys are not waterproof.
What about the valet key
A passat is sold with three keys, 2 remotes and a valet key which looks fairly conventional.no remote and it’s fairly waterproof. As for me, I use a voyageur bag which hold my cell phone and key quite nicely thank you. I foten hav left it on deck through rolling practices. cost $20 or so from a paddle shop.
ebay
My wife found that she could order less expensive keys for her Golf from a reseller, pay the dealer to have all the keys cut and recoded and still save money over buying from VW. Even though it is expensive, get extras done at once. It’s really nasty when the key’s innards explode and it stops working.
small wextex
dry bag around waist, keys, id, small emergency/survival kit in it.
…or if the battery of the car is dead
Okay, you have the answer. Take that plastic probe with you and use it to open the door when you get done paddling.
Okay, so they “thought” of the dead-battery scenario, and the solution is a plastic key? Would you trust that not to break off in the lock when the temperature is -15, your hands are freezing and clumsy, the plastic is brittle from the cold, and yesterday’s fog and drizzle is now frozen inside the lock? Call me old-fashioned and cynical, but why does anybody accept, much less want, a feature like this? Next thing you know car doors won’t even have handles, just electric motors to open and close them. This is technology for technolgy’s sake and nothing more, and it’s hard for me to believe there’s consumer demand for it.
Rant over.
can’t help but
I love having a keypad entry system on my Ford. This is a big conveinence for me and something I look for when buying cars. I love being able to lock my keys in the car, and at the same time love not being able to get locked out. Even if I go to the store I usually lock my keys in rather than have them bulging in my pockets.
Hmm
weld on to you car under frame a small mettle box to hold the “Super D-Lux remote key” and lock it with a conventional master lock… Make extra keys of the master lock… Or get that new super chip injected into your arm so all you have to do is to walk near your door and it unlocks…
Keypads
My current car, a Mercury Sable wagon, has one of those keypads on the driver’s door. At first I thought it was a stupid option since I had a remote, but it allows the kids to get into the car without having to be given (and losing) my keys. When I go paddling I just leave my keys inside and lock the car and then open it afterwords with the keypad.
Car keys
I put my remote in a small dry bag around my waist. I also have a spare key (old tech metal) that I put in the zippered pocket of my paddling pants or shorts. If I lose my spare key I have bigger problems than not getting into the car.
As for those new high tech electronic only keys, I hope I am never forced to buy a car like that. In my opinion it is just another uneeded expensive piece of s–t automakers dream up that sounds good to wow consumers and increase profit margins. It probably appeals to the same consumer that chooses a vehicle based on the cup holders rather than on good engineering, and effective and efficient performance.
I bet it doesn’t cost them more than 10 per cent of what they charge for a second “car opening and starting device.”
keypads
But you have to remember the code. After 8 years and not using the pad for @ 4 of them and having too many other groups of numbers and letters to remember can’t recall the correct sequence.
About black boxes: who else finds this idea frightning?
Sometimes low-tech is the best.
If someone wants your car bad enough, they will take it.
Cars in camping parking lots are more likely to be vandalised and have their contents stolen. Most of these places already require a car to get to. No key will prevent this.
Car dealers use a key lock box
It hangs over the window or door as you close it. It uses a round key and the box is plenty big enough to store your clicker, waterproof.
Should be easily available at a car dealer supply or locksmith and it’s made for the job your looking to do.
I always have a spare
securly taped to the inside of my bumper, in a sealed heavy duty plastic bag. The other key is in a waterproof bag, along with my wallet securley carabinered behind my seat. Only have had to use the spare twice, but what a lifesaver.
FYI
Good cup holders are a sign of good engineering. If they can’t get something as simple/basic as cup holders right, I would be afraid to look at the rest of the car.