Driving car away without key

mokey

mokey

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So today going in hospital for a Operation my wife has only drove my MG ZS EV long range connect twice , I drove to hospital and then handed car over to her to go straight home due to heavy snow. I jumped out of car without switching off , Came in to hospital and got to reception felt in my pocket and realised I had the keys. Panicked as didn’t have signal to phone her in building , stepped outside managed to get a signal called her by this time she was half way home probably 4 miles. My question is how far would the car drive without cutting out ? If she stopped off at a shop and switched ignition off , it wouldn’t restart that I do know , But if the car would let her drive further say 30 miles it would be crazy as once she press stop button , it won’t start without key. Because you can unlock and lock car at door handle , I tend to keep keys in my pocket. I’m sure this could happen to anyone, yes you can say I should leave key in centre console. I was as popular as a fart in a space suit believe me.
 
mokey said:
So today going in hospital for a Operation my wife has only drove my MG ZS EV long range connect twice , I drove to hospital and then handed car over to her to go straight home due to heavy snow. I jumped out of car without switching off , Came in to hospital and got to reception felt in my pocket and realised I had the keys. Panicked as didn’t have signal to phone her in building , stepped outside managed to get a signal called her by this time she was half way home probably 4 miles. My question is how far would the car drive without cutting out ? If she stopped off at a shop and switched ignition off , it wouldn’t restart that I do know , But if the car would let her drive further say 30 miles it would be crazy as once she press stop button , it won’t start without key. Because you can unlock and lock car at door handle , I tend to keep keys in my pocket. I’m sure this could happen to anyone, yes you can say I should leave key in centre console. I was as popular as a fart in a space suit believe me.
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That's good to know i'm sure there should be a warning when keys are a couple of metre's away at least?
 
Done this in my jeep start car to defrost went indoors left key on shelf got changed for work drive to work switched car off but could not lock as keys where at home doh
It seams you can keep driving with the key untill you switch off
At least with the ZS you can send the key to someone else so they can use use there phone or you can lock for them with your phone
 
mokey said:
My wife has a Mercedes it will let drive without key but not far , it gives off an alarm and warns you key not with car.
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I tried to drive off after opening the car with the app key in the house luckily would not start a close call if it had let me as going to work 50 miles away.
 
Same circumstances for me in MK1 ZSEV during covid lockdown. Key was in my pocket, wife dropped me off at A&E, wife drove to hospital carpark, turned off car but could not restart it without the key. I had already been admitted into hospital but could not easily get key to wife due to covid lockdown in hospitals.
As others have said, without the key in close proximity to the car, the car can be driven indefinitely until stopped but then cannot be locked or restarted without the key.
 
Thanks interesting to know 👍🏻

rpannell said:
Same circumstances for me in MK1 ZSEV during covid lockdown. Key was in my pocket, wife dropped me off at A&E, wife drove to hospital carpark, turned off car but could not restart it without the key. I had already been admitted into hospital but could not easily get key to wife due to covid lockdown in hospitals.
As others have said, without the key in close proximity to the car, the car can be driven indefinitely until stopped but then cannot be locked or restarted without the key.
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Bit crazy idea she could have driven a 100 miles away 🤥😵
 
I think this is a safety feature.
If the car would stop, if it did not detect the key, you would risk driving on the motorway, the battery in the key would run out of juice, and suddenly the car would stop because the key was no longer detected.

But yes, it would be nice if the car would actually warn you, that it had not been able to detect the key for X seconds since startup.

Maybe 1 minutes, to stop spurious short periods where it was not able to communicate. (If the key was in a pocket behind a metal credit card holder, and would have "bad reception" between the car and the key)
 
On the gen 1 it does warn you with a series of beeps and a message flashes up on the screen.
The beeps sound as soon as you step out the driver's door but are not very loud.
This is due to original owners complaining about the high volume of the horn sounding as a warning so the comfort 2 update was developed and applied later. The horn, which you could hear outside the car, being replaced by these quiet beeps inside. You probably don't see the message on the screen as you're not looking at the screen when you get out, you're looking at the door handle or mirror.
 
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No cars should start without the key, but none should ever stop themselves without it once started. Imagine if you were doing 70 on the motorway, your key suddenly failed and the car came to a grinding halt!
 
The VW “Kessy” keyless system is the same.
A VW master tech once told me that if the key is present inside the car is then started, you could then pass the keys out through the open drivers window and it was then possible to drive for as long as you like.
BUT - If the car is stalled or switched off mikes away from home, it will not restart again unless the key is once present again.
So this is not a new thing.
 
If you have the digital key activated on the app on your phone, would that be a way to resolve the problem faced by @mokey? I haven’t set it up on my app, but I think some forum members have. Presumably, one could phone the keyless driver, and give them the code if they didn’t already know it.
 
Just a suggestion to MG direct , why couldn’t they give the owner a passcode that could be made up from letters & numbers to be keyed in to the main screen in the event of this happening to get car started again ?
 
Susanna said:
If you have the digital key activated on the app on your phone, would that be a way to resolve the problem faced by @mokey? I haven’t set it up on my app, but I think some forum members have. Presumably, one could phone the keyless driver, and give them the code if they didn’t already know it.
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Sorry just read your comment after posting my last one , yes great idea
 
Susanna said:
If you have the digital key activated on the app on your phone, would that be a way to resolve the problem faced by @mokey? I haven’t set it up on my app, but I think some forum members have. Presumably, one could phone the keyless driver, and give them the code if they didn’t already know it.
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Yes digital key works well best try out before you need it in anger
 
Susanna said:
If you have the digital key activated on the app on your phone, would that be a way to resolve the problem faced by @mokey? I haven’t set it up on my app, but I think some forum members have. Presumably, one could phone the keyless driver, and give them the code if they didn’t already know it.
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Hi Susanna , yes I have the app and found the digital key , I can’t drive my car for 6 weeks just had a total knee replacement.

So will put it to the test in next few days.

THANK YOU.
 
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