On another forum having a bit of banter of the difficulties of modern cars.
A bit of perspective:
Be grateful you don't have to start a car with a handle (& in the rain). My Mum broke her wrist because she forgot to NOT put her thumb around the handle, keeping thumb same side of handle as fingers. The handle takes off for a moment when the engine is started.
These days you get RSI from push button start, it's a tough life this modern technology!
-- Edited by Whenarewethere on Thursday 16th of November 2023 11:53:52 AM
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I remember the hand crank starts well. And yes, I was always careful to not wrap my thumb around the crank handle. A kick back on starting would simply flick the handle out of your hand.
I also remember when Holdens first rolled off the assembly line without a crank handle coupling. People wondered how they could start the cars when it had a flat battery.
And, while this may be hard to imagine today, motoring publications carried instructions on how to add the cog fitting to the front of the engine so that a crank handle could be used!
I learnt to drive in a Morris that had a handle, but I didn't have enough strength in my arm to turn it over thus even though dad gave me the car, I could only drive it if my much stronger mate came with me. I think I fueled up the car no more then 4 times in the 2 years I had it.
-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Thursday 16th of November 2023 01:50:07 PM
I learnt to drive in a Morris that had a handle, but I didn't have enough strength in my arm to turn it over thus even though dad gave me the car, I could only drive it if my much stronger mate came with me. I think I fueled up the car no more then 4 times in the 2 years I had it.
I also learned to drive in a Morris, a Morris minor. Main thing I remember was the needing to make decisions approaching bends at night whether using the clutch to change down, or dipping the lights with the floor mounted dip switch should have priority!
Just recently got a new (to us car). It's brought us into a new world with electric windows etc. We both still struggle with the central locking & find ourselves still going around the car before leaving it to check that all the doors are locked!
How do you do that Cuppa, ours unlock again if you have the fob in your pocket. Or the " unfob " person has to check, while the fobbie stands well back
Fj would not start once hot. Had to remember to park facing down hill, or have a couple of mates to push. 6v electrics were not great.
How do you do that Cuppa, ours unlock again if you have the fob in your pocket. Or the " unfob " person has to check, while the fobbie stands well back
It's a 2013 Suzuki Grand Vitara 'Prestige' - I think possibly the first model with a Proximity key fob, & the key fob appears to be a little different to most that came later. The fob does the usual - press unlock once & it unlocks the drivers door, twice & it unlocks all 5 doors. & vice versa.
Alternatively driver, front passenger & rear barn door all have a rubber button on the door handle. With the fob on your person you can press each rubber button once to unlock that door or twice to unlock all doors. Likewise to lock the doors.
The two rear passenger doors have no such button so can only be locked/unlocked if all doors are locked or unlocked (I think).
The fob being present allows the car to be started without a key. However the also has a key with it's own transponder chip which fits inside the fob. This key has no 'remote' opening function, but can manually open the driver door - the only door with a key lock. It can also be inserted into the ignition & used to start the car in the absence of the fob.
One fob & the key that goes with it are the only keys we got with the car & replacement keys from a locksmith were going to be $600 -from Suzuki more.
Instead we bought some blank non transponder keys for $20 each & had them cut for spares, in case the fob is lost or goes flat. The non transponder keys can open the driver door but cannot start the car. The transponder key is well hidden inside the car. Once drivers door is open all doors can be unlocked or locked together from a switch on the drivers door internal handle.
I'm not really sure if this is the norm - although the locksmith trie to tell me the key in the fob would not have a transponder. He later accepted that I was correct I & that it did, commenting that it was quite unusual.
Our 'problem' is that standing outside the closed driver door, the sound of the doors locking is quiet enough to miss whether all locked or just the driver door, particularly if we haven't paid attention to whether other doors were already locked or not. There is the single or double flash of the indicators, but again not always easy from just outside the driver door.
We have tended to use the rubber buttons on the handles to do the locking, feeling it a good idea not to rely on the battery in the fob, & sometimes when we have done what we think is a double press to lock all doors, we've found we have locked & then unlocked the doors! I'm sure there is some operator error involved & it is very early days, so I expect we'll get used to it soon. Not sure if the driver door rubber button is the only one to lock all doors, or whether the 3 doors (of 5) with the rubber buttons do the same, or if two of them only relate to the individual doors. :)
Do other central locking cars have the rubber buttons like this?
-- Edited by Cuppa on Thursday 16th of November 2023 07:33:11 PM
Well my 2012 Vitara doesn't have it thankgod, plus my 2001 Prestige V6 didn't have it, they both have fob locking though, thankgod. If cost of living gets too much for us in the near future, not that my wife wants this, but we have decided to sell the car and camper, and rely on my motorbike and DVA car for transport. The good thing about the motorbike is we get free airconditioning, heated seats and grips. haha.
-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Thursday 16th of November 2023 08:04:03 PM
If you check a Vitara forum. Pretty sure you should be able to turn on audible warning when you lock or unlock, pretty much any combination of signals. Turned mine off for the Land Rover via dash menu.
No locking button on my car, fob only. The fob needs to pretty close to the steering wheel to start the car, at least in the front seat. Occasionally had to hold it right under the steering wheel until I put a new battery in the fob.
There is a physical key inside the fob which will open the passenger door if battery doesn't work. You get a warning on the dash when the battery is getting low. Then I just replace with a new 2032 button cell.
__________________
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If you check a Vitara forum. Pretty sure you should be able to turn on audible warning when you lock or unlock, pretty much any combination of signals. Turned mine off for the Land Rover via dash menu.
Ta. I have checked again. No audible warning for door locking on this model. Pity. :(
However I have sussed out where I was going wrong.
With key fob in my pocket I press the rubber button on any of the 3 doors which have them, once to unlock that specific door or twice to unlock all doors.
My assumption had been that to lock all doors using the rubber button I needed to press the button twice - not so. Only once. So my double presses when locking have locked & then unlocked. Sussed! :)
I looked up a few forum comments on Suzuki, it may be the more recent Vitara models the CANbus network covers more features of the car, earlier models were limited to key features.
With the Land Rover it is the entire car for a very long time.
Things like seatbelt warning if you click in & out the seatbelt 10 times within a minute of starting the car, you can turn off the seatbelt warning. That is not a CANbus code edit.
You can set windscreen wiper position for iced windscreens for cold weather with a few simply start combinations (not generally required in Australia... yet!).
I installed aftermarket ARB TPMS which I think is a better system (simpler) when you want to carry two or more spare wheels.
Tyre TPMS is in all cars, Australia doesn't legislate TPMS. Turn in on from the CCF file & instal the sensors, including the spare.
Car service warning date on the dashboard you can reset with a few steps.
Open all car windows with the key fob to cool the car as approaching.
Basically the car has a whole pile of software switches for legal car registration requirements for every country. Some want day time lights & some it is illegal. Software adjustment.
You can even turn on the reverse camera, called follow me home, which is allowed in some countries.
Adjust various warning volumes with radio volume control while the warning volume is sounding. Just recently learnt this after a decade, a few Land Rover owners had a laugh, kindly in jest, that it took me a decade to find this feature on the car. I have now via the radio volume reduced the front & rear sensor parking volume (one learns something every day!).
Pressing in both left & right mirror buttons will close or open them, manual override (one thing knew but my sister didn't know with her Land Rover). Say for narrow lanes or getting into the garage as in my situation.
Even water spraying left right of headlights is a CCF code, one in five activations of windscreen washing on my car (headlight washing is a requirement in some countries). Lets not get onto headlight leveling (which should be mand6 in Australia
A few features never offered on the Land Rover Freelander, but software has been there by 2012 for Range Rover variants.
Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
Surround Camera System with 5 camera ( the software is in the car from about 2012).
InControl Apps soon to be replaced with CarPlay.
Meridian Premium Surround Sound.
Digital Audio Broadcast
Timed Climate
Cruise ECO Data
Follow Me Home Reverse
Extra Features Menu
Picture In Motion
4x4i screen
Digital Broadcast TV (up to 4 antennas for best reception)
Meridian Rear Media with WIFI
Factory Powered Tailgate
Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM)
Reverse Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA)
Electrochromatic Wing Mirrors (we do have heated mirrors).
Head rest rear seat video entertainment, left & right different programs, with remote control.
Engine pre heating for cold climates (diesel engines models), to name a few.
Cars are basically software switches & a fair chunk is actually plug & play. Hi-fi comes from Jaguar with some CCF edits. I only have 11 speakers. But one can upgrade to 17 as quite a few have done if their car didn't come with the $2000 premium hi-fi. Actually 11 speakers is almost as good as my home system.
If you are really keen you can software edit your car & plug in pretty much anything. The underlying software has been there for a decade or longer.
__________________
Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
