MGS5 will drive without keys in car

[RhythMick]

My wife dropped me off at the bowling green yesterday. I got my bag out of the boot (by opening the tailgate), closed it again and off she drove. I mention the tailgate because that can't be opened unless Park is selected so I know she did that.

When I got into the clubhouse I realised the keys were in my pocket! She was able to drive to her destination but unable to lock the car and unable to go into Drive. I had to get a friend to drive me over there with the keys.

I was under the impression that the car would prevent driving without the key present but clearly I'm wrong. Does it then simply prevent the car from STARTING without the key present?

The MGS5 doesn't have a start button so when exactly does it "start"? When the brake pedal is pressed? When the driver sits down? The car has previously warned me both about leaving the keys in the car and about not having the key when I get in so I know that works, I'm just surprised it allowed her to select drive after the key had left the car.

And finally - I have the iSmart app so I think (?) if it had been me without the key I could have driven the car using the app. Is that correct? If so that's good to know as an emergency measure.

I think I feel a scientific set of experiments coming on.

 

[Kenp1]

I think all cars are like this, if the key was in the car and it lost the signal from the key for some reason it could be dangerous to just stop the car.

 

[MG Clive]

I guess if the key was very close by when she set off, it would be possible to drive away, but I'm surprised she didn't get a constant bleeping and message saying something like 'Smart key not detected'.

 

[Alb]

There will almost certainly have been "Key Not Present" warnings but you can easily replicate the scenario to verify this.

 

[walz]

My keys were on the passenger’s seat and it came up no keys present and it seemed like the car slowed down until I picked up keys and put in cup holder at front and all went back to normal .

 

[RhythMick]

I tried a few things today.

When my wife got out of the car with the keys I got 6 bing-bongs with a message like "the key is not in the car". She says she didn't get those messages the other day. She took the keys into the house to get something.

While the key was out of the car I was able to select drive and reverse and turn the car around ready to head off again. I also tried taking my seat belt off and lifting my weight off the seat but that didn't prevent me from driving.

I didn't try actually opening the door and getting out but I'm assuming that's the point where it would have prevented me driving.

 

[sammoj]

I tried a few things today.

When my wife got out of the car with the keys I got 6 bing-bongs with a message like "the key is not in the car". She says she didn't get those messages the other day. She took the keys into the house to get something.

While the key was out of the car I was able to select drive and reverse and turn the car around ready to head off again. I also tried taking my seat belt off and lifting my weight off the seat but that didn't prevent me from driving.

I didn't try actually opening the door and getting out but I'm assuming that's the point where it would have prevented me driving.

Out of interest have you setup the digital key on your phone?

 

[RhythMick]

Out of interest have you setup the digital key on your phone?

Yes and it works fine. I hadn't activated it during the test today though.

 

[sammoj]

Yes and it works fine. I hadn't activated it during the test today though.

I wonder if it is activating in bluetooth range. I just ask as I noticed mine said connected in the Living Room the other day and it made me concerned a bit that the phone key was connected to the car but the real key was in a faraday box. I disabled it after that just in case. May be worth disabling the key and testing again in case there is a bug or 'feature' on the digital key.

 

[RhythMick]

I wonder if it is activating in bluetooth range. I just ask as I noticed mine said connected in the Living Room the other day and it made me concerned a bit that the phone key was connected to the car but the real key was in a faraday box. I disabled it after that just in case. May be worth disabling the key and testing again in case there is a bug or 'feature' on the digital key.

Thanks I'll experiment