A topic came up the other day about the Prox keys on cars like the BMW and the Toyota Prius; what would happen if you unknowingly set your keys on the roof of the car while loading stuff... hopped in... drove off and at 30 or so MPH the keys slid off and lost contact with the car? I quizzed my friend with a BMW and he swore that the car will no start with the keys on the roof.. well last night we gave it a shot he set the keys on the roof and jumped in the car, closed the door and hit the start button, Vroom! it fired right up as if nothing was wrong, he couldn't believe it so he hopped out and walked with the keys away from the car, it kept running like a champ. I want to see if you are moving what happens; I guess this is a simular thing to if you got "car jacked" with your keys in your pocket, the assailant could drive as far as they like as long as they don't shut the car off? Hmmmm..
Thinking to the term "Fail Safe" I guess the car couldn't shut down on you at 55 MPH and lock the steering... or could it? My BMW friend wasn't will to give any more of a test than walking away from the car, on the other hand my fellow Geek Dan is more than happy to try a controled test of the same thing on his Prius. We will use a large parking lot and a bicycle riding next to the car with the keys on the bike and at what ever speed feel right the bike will peel off and leave the car to continue on to see what happens.
More on this later