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My dad had a '51 Dodge that was 60 years ahead of its time. There was a button on the dash that you press the activate the starter.
What's the big deal nowadays with cars with push-button starter? TV ads for cars (Ford Fiesta, among others), pitching that as the selling point.
There's also a Ford ad where you switch cars for a week, and the gal is only excited over the bloatware (GPS and Satellite radio), which will cost her extra after the first year.
Is there anything new and positive about the new models of cars?
My dad had a '51 Dodge that was 60 years ahead of its time. There was a button on the dash that you press the activate the starter.
What's the big deal nowadays with cars with push-button starter? TV ads for cars (Ford Fiesta, among others), pitching that as the selling point.
There's also a Ford ad where you switch cars for a week, and the gal is only excited over the bloatware (GPS and Satellite radio), which will cost her extra after the first year.
Is there anything new and positive about the new models of cars?
Brake regeneration systems, Start-Stop technology, LED daytime running lights, Increasing interior design quality uhm.. I'm sure I'll think of more later.
Many early vehicles had a start button on the floor.
I had a start button on my old Volvo. 60's Volvo's had the starter switch linked by a shielded cable to the coil. These switches were so firm they would shear the key off.
The new cars with push button ignition do not require you to remove the key from your pocket.
The new cars with push button ignition do not require you to remove the key from your pocket.
Correct. You don't even have a 'key' per se. I believe the correct term is 'fob'. So long as you have the fob on your person, the car will start with just the push button. On most vehicles with systems like this, it will also automatically unlock the doors as well.
My Wife's Jaguar doesn't have a key...only a thing that's as thin as a credit card (but smaller in size).
It opens the doors, trunk, can remotely start the car from 600 feet away, has a "panic alarm", starts the car when inside (no button anywhere in the cabin), and adjusts the mirrors, driver's seat, and steering wheel height to 4 different personal settings when you open the doors. The sound and navigation systems are also useless without that card.
I have a Honda S2000, one of the first modern cars to be equipped with a push button starter. It is IMO a bit of frippery in a car remarkably devoid of such silliness. In the S2000's case, the button is used in conjunction with a conventional key inserted in the conventional place. To start the car, turn the key to run, then hit the button, which is located on the left side of the steering wheel. I have read that the reason for the button is to allow fast re-starts in the event of a spin and subsequent stall. It is located to the left to allow the right hand to be available for shifting duties, the same reason Porsche locates their ignition switch there.
There is something fundamentally unsettling about this push-button no-key starter. Would you drive this car to Alaska, depending on that newfangled electronic thingamajig to start your car in the middle of the Yukon, or find somebody to start it?
More and more, cars are designed for soccer moms to drive to the hairdresser, and anything less predictable could leave you stranded for any of a hundred little tiny failures.
In the 1930's, the Okies drove their families to California in a 1922 car, with a set of crescent wrenches, a couple of screwdrivers, and a tire iron. Duct tape hadn't been invented yet.
A couple of years ago, I was in my Toyota dealers shop, and a guy drove in with a new Sienna. Run-flat tires, with no spare, not even a well to put one in. I asked the Toyota man if he would drive that car to Alaska. He just laughed.
Cars are now designed to be driven on summer blacktop roads within a radius of 50 miles from a dealer. Nothing that goes wrong can ever be bypassed by intuition or duct tape. That Sienna had a motorized rear-deck lifter, operating off a button on the dash. Good luck when there's a little ice buildup. But, of course, our soccer mom has a garage. It's an indoor car.
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