In 30 Years, When Our FOBs Are Dead, How Do We Get In?

When our key fobs are dead, assuming Ford won't make them any more, how do we get into our cars/start them?

New battery in the FOB? Rewire the car for a key ignition? Get in our self driving hybrid because driving is illegal?

I would like to keep my car forever, but I don't know if modern cars will last that long, they aren't built that well.

Hell at that point It'd be cool if they made some little phone app that projected the kind of signal our FOBs give off. Just go to Ford, input the VIN and proof you own the car and here you go, a download for the FOB app.

ForTheHordeKT said:

Hell at that point It'd be cool if they made some little phone app that projected the kind of signal our FOBs give off. Just go to Ford, input the VIN and proof you own the car and here you go, a download for the FOB app.

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Volvo already has this:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/volvo-on-call/id439635293?mt=8

dentalguy said:

New battery in the FOB? Rewire the car for a key ignition? Get in our self driving hybrid because driving is illegal?

I would like to keep my car forever, but I don't know if modern cars will last that long, they aren't built that well.

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Compared to what? It's always fun to wax nostalgic, but really cars from the 60's and 70's rarely went much beyond 100K (bring on the anecdotal evidence). When I was in HS in the early 80's we were all driving late 60's cars. These cars were typically 15-17 years old...and they were considered old and looked a lot older than a 2001 car looks today. Yea, they were a lot simpler and you could keep them going with fairly straight-forward repairs, and you had to because they were falling apart. I had a '67 Cougar and my brother had a '67 Mustang both with less than 100K. The engines were about the only part that was still working well. The suspension and steering were pretty much shot, constant rattles and creaks. We loved those cars, but the metallurgy and construction of modern cars is much better.

What do you do with an old car today when it's been sitting so long the lock cylinder is frozen?

I think they'll still work. The electronics on them are fairly simple and batteries will still be out there. I sold a 1994 GMC Jimmy about 7 or so years ago and both fobs still worked.

Some Tron crazy touch panels on door.

Break the goddamn windows

It comes with a physical key...

:RTFM:

The aftermarket will always pick it up. They already have in many cases...

HealToeHero said:

The aftermarket will always pick it up. They already have in many cases...

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^^^ This ^^^

I'm thinking microchip implant in your hand.

The aftermarket will fill a void if there is money to be made. With the production numbers of the Mustang there will be a lot of people needing the same thing. I suspect FOBs are similar between models, as engineers reuse designs were feasible. Heck, in 30 years, these devices will be looked upon as simple and easy to duplicate or improve.