So embarrassing. Didn't know how to start a car.

So I had to rent a car in Portland tonight. Found the remote on top of the dash but the key was missing. After a minute I figured out it had no ignition but had a start button. Cool, I pressed it and still didn't start. After 5 minutes I had to get assistance.

VEGASRIDER said:

So I had to rent a car in Portland tonight. Found the remote on top of the dash but the key was missing. After a minute I figured out it had no ignition but had a start button. Cool, I pressed it and still didn't start. After 5 minutes I had to get assistance.

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So how'd you get it started? Seriously, I wouldn't know how to
Start it either. If it says push to start and the key is in my hand, I'm out of ideas. However I would have wasted the next hour reading through the manual to try and figure it out

Push in the clutch?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now it would appear to work beautifully thx TT and Dennis

Nope, push to start cars require a foot on the break before pressing the push start button. That is the only way to turn on the the engine. Pressing the button without the break will only cycle through

Off -> Acc -> On(no engine)

I am an MECP certified car electronics installer so I put remote starts and whatnot in everything that moves (including motorcycles) all the time. These days we see alot of push to start cars, especially from certain makes. For example Nissan, the vast majority of their cars are only sold as push to start now.

I did the same thing last year in Arizona. After 5-10 minutes of cursing at the car, I happened to put my foot on the brake and hit start. (after at least twice having my foot on the brake and apparently turning it off with the same button (the car, not the engine))

Lmao! That's awesome. Did nothing pop up on the display telling you to put your foot on the brake, then push start? My girlfriends car is like this, but the display at least tells you what to do haha.

Personally I prefer to turn a key, but I've never owned a car with push button start. Maybe it would grow on me?

Just more crap to break down the road if you keep your car for more than a couple of years..

Funny story thou!!:thumbup:

It's ok Vegas my brothers kia optima messed with me like that. I'm used to putting my foot on the brakes after I start it before I take it out of gear.

tejkowskit said:

Lmao! That's awesome. Did nothing pop up on the display telling you to put your foot on the brake, then push start? My girlfriends car is like this, but the display at least tells you what to do haha.

Personally I prefer to turn a key, but I've never owned a car with push button start. Maybe it would grow on me?

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I agree with 2 exceptions.

1. Cars that use a traditional key but the ignition is controlled by a button (Honda S2K, and a handful of supercars mostly).

2. When you install a remote start in many of the new push start cars it allows perfectly seamless transfer from R/S to the key. Not all vehicles are capable of this (looking at you Hyundai/Kia) but all of the Nissans and many of the Hondas and Toyotas it works perfectly. Basically you press the button to remote start the car, then when your ready to leave you press a small button on the door handle, it pings the area and detects that the key is on your person so it unlocks the door. Then you climb in shut the door, put your foot on the break(this shuts down the remote start) shift into gear and leave. It really works that well! It works so well that I almost would give up a turn key just for that seamless feature.

They are not perfect for normal use, but it is an interesting concept. No more digging your keys out of your pocket/purse with arms full of groceries/kids/whatever. Just pull the door handle and set stuff down.

Even with all of that I still prefer traditional keys though.

And when the battery dies in the remote, then what?

Is there an alternative vs walking / getting a ride to scroung up a new remote battery?

I'd rather dig for a key.

Have a spare key taped up under my bumper should I loose my key, I'm not getting stuck... Got a spare key taped up (hidden) in my FZ too!

agf said:

Push in the clutch?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now it would appear to work beautifully thx TT and Dennis

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This is Merica!! What's a clutch?! :rof:

But seriously.. it's actually very difficult to find a rental car with manual trans in the States. Large majority of the cars here are autos.. and large majority of population cannot drive stick.

Yeah i know we have a manual car and will never buy an auto( as long as we can) but they are becoming pretty rare


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now it would appear to work beautifully thx TT and Dennis

agf said:

Yeah i know we have a manual car and will never buy an auto( as long as we can) but they are becoming pretty rare


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now it would appear to work beautifully thx TT and Dennis

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Very rare unless you want roll up windows as well.which is stupid. Or you buy a serious sports car.

TownsendsFJR1300 said:

And when the battery dies in the remote, then what?

Is there an alternative vs walking / getting a ride to scroung up a new remote battery?

I'd rather dig for a key.

Have a spare key taped up under my bumper should I loose my key, I'm not getting stuck... Got a spare key taped up (hidden) in my FZ too!

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I drive a Focus ST that has push button start. You have to put your foot on the brake and clutch before hitting the button. After it starts if you want to back up you have to pull up on the shifter to get it to go into reverse. It's kind of hilarious watching people who don't know what they're doing try to move the car.

I don't think I would want to go back to a key, it's super convenient to just use the proximity.

If the fob dies there's a little key inside the fob that'll unlock the doors, once inside the car there's a place in the steering column to stick the fob and the car will start even with a dead fob.

Now that you informed me that the start button is used to turn the car off, I've been looking for the kill switch, I'm going outside and finally turn the car off after its been running all night. It's a rental, what do I care. Paying full insurance on the car from Hertz anyways which cost more than the daily rental for the car.

VEGASRIDER said:

Now that you informed me that the start button is used to turn the car off, I've been looking for the kill switch, I'm going outside and finally turn the car off after its been running all night. It's a rental, what do I care. Paying full insurance on the car from Hertz anyways which cost more than the daily rental for the car.

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lmao.. you should have tried to put the sidestand down in gear.. that'd turn it off! :thumbup:

LOL VEGAS! You sure it doesn't say START/STOP

:rof:

From personal experiences, you would have to press on the brakes while pushing the start button.

That's ok, every time I use the Daiko service (taxi that brings an extra driver to drive your car home) when I drink too much, they can't start my car because they don't push the clutch in far enough. It's extra weird because EVERY taxi has a manual transmission over here.

This thread is too funny! But I can totally relate...I had to call Apple when I got my new MacBook. The instructions said click here and I tapped the control pad over and over. Nothing happened. I moved the arrow around via the trackpad, tried hitting return, did the stupid tutorial thinking it wouldn't go forward unless I set the brightness, language etc, and because the tutorial let me hit "enter" to move forward so I was okay. Couldn't get past the welcome page thought. When I called they told me I needed to press firmly on the trackpad until it clicked. Ah...got it now. Thanks. Glad I didn't get charged for that.

:thumbup: