smoke_wagon_6g
Well-Known Member
This all comes from integrating the fob and key.
Old man rant follows.
I miss being able to cut a few cheap keys and having them around as spares. This was life in the old days. You had door plus ignition. Or sometimes just one key for both. Cost about $1 to have a brass key cut.
I get that those early cars were easy to hotwire and steal. So we added a transponder chip into the key itself. With the chip keys you'd cut a $2 bare metal spare to get you in the door in case you locked the keys in and could also just leave the corresponding chip key in the vehicle if you wanted to. The keypads make sense on those years, in case of lockout or intentional key in car stowage.
Finally, when there were no chipless blanks around you could buy it still wasn't too expensive to cut and clone a couple of chipped spares. $40 or so. This is how most of our commercial vehicles in the fleet still operate where I work. Why? That is peak usability. Many chipped, inexpensive keys exist in key cabinets that don't need a internal battery to worry about or a massive fob to deal with. The key is thus pocketable and not hanging off a belt or placed on a table and lost.
If there is a fob you could always lock it in the car or leave it wherever you want and the car didn't try to outsmart you and unlock the door. You didn't even really need those old fobs since the chip was in the key itself and the fobs broke after a few years anyway.
Fast forward to today.
With my Mustang the fob *is* the key. It also costs over $300 to make a spare, I looked into it. It's also fucking huge! You also only get 2 with the car. You can't lock it in the car because the car unlocks itself if you do.
In all important ways we went backwards. A chip provides security but it does not have have to exist in a huge, expensive, fragile chunk of plastic that requires a battery and can't survive a rainstorm or an impact. It's frankly stupid. I hate the size of this thing. You can't put it on a keyring with your other keys. The buttons can be pressed inadvertently. It's too thick for a pants pocket. Can't even leave it in the car. And since it is the key you obviously can't leave it behind.
I have half a dozen work keys for different trucks that take up less space and make less trouble. And if I lost that ring it would be cheaper to replace than a single Mustang IAK.
Maybe the IAK looks good at the bar with the silver pony. I know Porsche guys pay $$$ for a pretty body color fob so maybe it's all for looks. But I hate it.
End rant.
Old man rant follows.
I miss being able to cut a few cheap keys and having them around as spares. This was life in the old days. You had door plus ignition. Or sometimes just one key for both. Cost about $1 to have a brass key cut.
I get that those early cars were easy to hotwire and steal. So we added a transponder chip into the key itself. With the chip keys you'd cut a $2 bare metal spare to get you in the door in case you locked the keys in and could also just leave the corresponding chip key in the vehicle if you wanted to. The keypads make sense on those years, in case of lockout or intentional key in car stowage.
Finally, when there were no chipless blanks around you could buy it still wasn't too expensive to cut and clone a couple of chipped spares. $40 or so. This is how most of our commercial vehicles in the fleet still operate where I work. Why? That is peak usability. Many chipped, inexpensive keys exist in key cabinets that don't need a internal battery to worry about or a massive fob to deal with. The key is thus pocketable and not hanging off a belt or placed on a table and lost.
If there is a fob you could always lock it in the car or leave it wherever you want and the car didn't try to outsmart you and unlock the door. You didn't even really need those old fobs since the chip was in the key itself and the fobs broke after a few years anyway.
Fast forward to today.
With my Mustang the fob *is* the key. It also costs over $300 to make a spare, I looked into it. It's also fucking huge! You also only get 2 with the car. You can't lock it in the car because the car unlocks itself if you do.
In all important ways we went backwards. A chip provides security but it does not have have to exist in a huge, expensive, fragile chunk of plastic that requires a battery and can't survive a rainstorm or an impact. It's frankly stupid. I hate the size of this thing. You can't put it on a keyring with your other keys. The buttons can be pressed inadvertently. It's too thick for a pants pocket. Can't even leave it in the car. And since it is the key you obviously can't leave it behind.
I have half a dozen work keys for different trucks that take up less space and make less trouble. And if I lost that ring it would be cheaper to replace than a single Mustang IAK.
Maybe the IAK looks good at the bar with the silver pony. I know Porsche guys pay $$$ for a pretty body color fob so maybe it's all for looks. But I hate it.
End rant.
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