Want to Remote-Start Your Toyota With a Fob? That'll be $8 Per Month

[dez1978]

Explain how you do it when you wake up to ice from the rain the evening before, turned into 12 inches of snowfall overnight, and back to rain compacting it and adding more ice to your car? Folks from warmer climates don't understand the snowfall and ice that comes day after day after day after day very often in winter where there is winter.

Exactly... We have some weather here where those towels would just be frozen solid to your car and the doors frozen shut too. It's cool if you get a couple inches of snow, or a light glaze of ice, But it aint working in 18 inches of snow, or an inch of ice under/over the snow. We've had storms here before where I had to go outside and shovel and clean off my car every hour or so just so the dogs could go out and I'd be able to get to my car in a reasonable time. I remember when I was pregnant with my oldest, I had an Impala and we lived in town on a skinny little road where by the time ppl parked on the side of the road, there was one lane open. We got 22 inches of snow over about 36 hours. Husband was working out of town, so I had to deal with it. I backed my car into the driveway, just far enough to be past the sidewalk. We had a little pomerainian, so I had to go shovel him a path so he didn't disappear in the snow. I went out and shoveled a path to my car and kept shoveling so that at least Id only be doing a bit at a time. I was so mad bc the stupid college kids parked right up against my driveway on both sides and then the plow would push the piles of snow in the gap in front of my drive.

 

[dez1978]

I really think push button start cars should be much more obnoxious about the fact they are being driven without the key. Usually this is maybe an icon displayed on the dash but there needs to be lots of noises after say 5 minutes of driving without the key in the car.

Mine is super obnoxious about it. It dings every like, 5 seconds

 

[mom2rtk]

Did that once. First push button start. Started and cleaned her car for her on a Saturday. Left the key fob sitting next to her purse. She comes flying out of the bedroom, "I'm late!" grabs her purse and out the door she goes. I glance over and see the only key we got with the car sitting there. I was chasing her down the road. I did not want to drive 30 miles into her work at midnight when she realized she didn't have the key when she went to unlock the car to come home with needing to get up at 5 Monday morning. I ran FAST after her down the road, LOL.

Oh wow. Ours won't go into gear without the key fob inserted.

 

[soccerdad72]

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty positive my car won't go into gear without the key fob nearby.

 

[dez1978]

I don't know where you looked but KC metro on the MO has places where it's illegal (including KCMO) and it's common for the news to remind people as winter sets in. Frankly I wouldn't be concerned about the police writing me a ticket although they do do that here, I'd be concerned with my car being stolen and it happens all the time hence the law. Right now in the 'burbs car theft is incredibly high. Most are occurring between 3 and 6 am. Every day a post in Nextdoor about it and now there's an increasing amount of people having their vehicles stolen out of the garage. Just yesterday it happened. I guess the thieves are using devices that can talk to the garage door opener. In the case of this person they left their keys in the cars and both were stolen. I'm not making it easier on thieves with my traditional car key leaving my car running Too many ring videos shared in my area of thieves going up to vehicles in driveways testing if it's unlocked. My car is a piece of junk but it's my mode of transportation.

If it's one time I'd appreciate a "Karen" that would be it, looking out for each other is what people are doing. Thieves are looking for streets where it’s easy pickens and they strike multiple houses on the street. You live rural your concerns may be different than mine where I live in the metro. I did find a news story where KCMO police from 2019 in 1 week has 105 cars stolen with half of them the keys left in the ignition with the car running. You're right police have better things to do than chase down the car thief and your car because you left it running unattended.

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CompilationofStateIdlingRegulations.pdfOnly states Stl. I assumed it would be correct. But this is regarding idling your car=ppollution, not about keeping your car from being stolen.

Well leaving your keys in the ignition while it's running is asking for your car to be stolen in a metro area lol. That is stupid and why anyone would leave their keys in their car anywhere is beyond me. We live in the middle of no where and I don't do that lol. That is a very different thing than it being illegal for smog/pollution reasons which is what tvguy was stating and what I was talking about. And yeah, the police have better things to do, but I have onstar so they can find it. And if not, well, thats what I have full coverage insurance for. If someone really wants your car, they'll get it regardless, so I guess I don't stress too much about that.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CompilationofStateIdlingRegulations.pdfOnly states Stl. I assumed it would be correct. But this is regarding idling your car=ppollution, not about keeping your car from being stolen.

Well leaving your keys in the ignition while it's running is asking for your car to be stolen in a metro area lol. That is stupid and why anyone would leave their keys in their car anywhere is beyond me. We live in the middle of no where and I don't do that lol. That is a very different thing than it being illegal for smog/pollution reasons which is what tvguy was stating and what I was talking about. And yeah, the police have better things to do, but I have onstar so they can find it. And if not, well, thats what I have full coverage insurance for. If someone really wants your car, they'll get it regardless, so I guess I don't stress too much about that.

Nope it's illegal here in places, remote start being exemptions most often like I mentioned before. I'm out of town and am only using my phone so it's hard but yeah you can search this. I wouldn't use that EPA document (eta: I see you were mentioning pollution). I completely understand where you're coming from but you were talking about the whole state and talking about nosy neighbors and things police have better things to do. The law exists for a reason no matter where you live if it's illegal although your chances of theft may be lower depending on where you live so it doesn't become as pressing on one's mind. I didn't use to worry about car theft as much until last year and it's just so much in recent months. I'd rather have m car intact, not used in a crime, destroyed in a wreck, etc. Onstar ain't going to help you there. It used to member common for cars to be stolen in KS from MO peeps who would chop it up for parts, Onstar ain't going to help there. I think the KS to MO isn't as common, actually they are trying to figure out the motives of these thieves since it's not quite the same as before.

Don't even get me started on CA smog stuff lol. I dealt with it in the insurance context. I'm sure tvguy was talking about pollution but the laws are just as much about pollution as theft so I wouldn't have confined the conversation to pollution but I get you now if that's what you were only talking about

 

[mrodgers]

I really think push button start cars should be much more obnoxious about the fact they are being driven without the key. Usually this is maybe an icon displayed on the dash but there needs to be lots of noises after say 5 minutes of driving without the key in the car.

Mine is super obnoxious about it. It dings every like, 5 seconds

Yeah, my 2016 does, her car was a 2010 however. No notification at all, she would have gotten out at work, pressed the button on the door to lock it, then called me at midnight when she realized. I even asked what would have happened on the forums right after I chased her down.

Oh wow. Ours won't go into gear without the key fob inserted.

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty positive my car won't go into gear without the key fob nearby.

Interesting. As I said, it was a 2010 so early push button.

I don't have experience with automatics other than that 2010. Mine is a manual so there's no stopping from going into gear with it. It does make quite a racket when I get out to get the mail.

 

[tvguy]

Too late. The air in your HVAC system is the same as outside. Your windshield is the same temperature as outside. Your breath fogs the windshield and freezes frosting the inside of the windshield. Now you can't see while driving down the road for however long it takes for the heat to start blowing warm on the windshield. It just doesn't happen in the snow belt the way you think it does in milder climates. I'm halfway to work before I can see if I don't start my car and warm up the windshield prior to leaving whether it's snowing out or not.

I don't believe the AC compressor comes on below a certain temperature anyways, so it's a moot point. We're talking temps from 20's down to 20 below 0. Not the occasional cool winter day of a mild climate area.

Exactly, which is why I wondered why the interior electric heaters apparently aren't as common as they used to be. No fuel wasted, and issue solved as long as you have a place to plug in.

 

[tvguy]

Fine advice. I'm definitely going to try that!

View attachment 630536

I sure hope you are joking that you would use a remote starter in this situation. I am only about an hour from snow country and this is the kind of situation where they find people overcome or worse from carbon monoxide poisoning from running the engine in a snow covered car. How many tanks of gas would that take to melt anyway? Sometimes you have to shovel.

 

[ronandannette]

I sure hope you are joking that you would use a remote starter in this situation. I am only about an hour from snow country and this is the kind of situation where they find people overcome or worse from carbon monoxide poisoning from running the engine in a snow covered car. How many tanks of gas would that take to melt anyway? Sometimes you have to shovel.

{{sigh}} Yes, you have to shovel.

 

[ronandannette]

Exactly, which is why I wondered why the interior electric heaters apparently aren't as common as they used to be. No fuel wasted, and issue solved as long as you have a place to plug in.

Fun fact: A good deal of electricity in Canada is produced by coal-fired facilities.

 

[mrodgers]

I sure hope you are joking that you would use a remote starter in this situation. I am only about an hour from snow country and this is the kind of situation where they find people overcome or worse from carbon monoxide poisoning from running the engine in a snow covered car. How many tanks of gas would that take to melt anyway? Sometimes you have to shovel.

Not sure how you would do remote starting, but if I'm going to climb into that car to remote start it, I'm just going to start it normally. I would remote start the car from the outside of that mess

And you start the car to loosen the adhesion of the ice, snow, and frost. You don't start your car that looks like that and let it sit until it's clean. Although I admit I did one time when I went out to a block of ice, pounded my way into it (as I said, never owned an auto so never had remote) and left it to run at 10 am to start thawing it out. Then the wife came home at 3 and asked why my car was out in the driveway running. Oops LOL.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Then the wife came home at 3 and asked why my car was out in the driveway running. Oops LOL.

My DH did that not too long ago. We have a truck that isn't a daily driver, so it sometimes goes months without being taken anywhere. DH tries to start it every couple weeks and let it run for 15 or so minutes. A few months ago, he started it and totally forgot about it. It ran for several hours in the driveway before he remembered - oops.

 

[wenrob]

Same here. an inch of snow equals no school bc 75% of our district is on gravel roads so it makes it harder for the buses.

I don't think that it is, but if it is, I do not care one single bit. And who is coming to enforce it? Who is coming out to the middle of no where to check?

I googled, it is only illegal in the City of St Louis. No where else in the whooooole state, so I'm safe. And even in Stl it's only illegal to let it run more than 10 mins. And again, who is monitoring that? Unless Karen is your neighbor, setting a timer every morning when you start your car... Police have better things to do than issue citations for petty stuff like this.

I’m sure it’s not legal in a lot of places but CA is probably the only place that will actually go after you for it. Heck, they’ll get ya for idling in the car line at school pick up. But unless you’re way up in Northern CA there’s no real reason westherwise for remote start, towels or any of the other stuff. It’s “nice” probably 90% of the time in Southern California. Someone trying to debate about conditions they don’t have any experience with isn’t really worth your time.

 

[tvguy]

I’m sure it’s not legal in a lot of places but CA is probably the only place that will actually go after you for it. Heck, they’ll get ya for idling in the car line at school pick up. But unless you’re way up in Northern CA there’s no real reason westherwise for remote start, towels or any of the other stuff. It’s “nice” probably 90% of the time in Southern California. Someone trying to debate about conditions they don’t have any experience with isn’t really worth your time.

This is this morning, 50 miles from where I live.

 

[wenrob]

This is this morning, 50 miles from where I live. View attachment 630802

Fifty miles from where I live is way different than where I actually live. You would not be making the assertions you are if you actually had any experience with what it’s like to have a snow covered car daily.

 

[mrodgers]

This is this morning, 50 miles from where I live. View attachment 630802

Looks like a heavy wet snow, which means not very cold out. That's easy peasy.

 

[tvguy]

Fifty miles from where I live is way different than where I actually live. You would not be making the assertions you are if you actually had any experience with what it’s like to have a snow covered car daily.

Not a single assertion. Questions and discussion friend.

 

[TippyThomas]

I'm sensing a theme.

 

[easyas123]

I'm sensing a theme.

trust your senses!