Question on some push to start ideas.......

[John McIntire]

I've been tossing around the idea of adding a "push to start" button to my car. Yeah I know this has been done before, but I'd like to make it really functional like in the newer luxury cars.
I know that in some cars, you dont even need a key, just a key fob type thing that the car automatically senses, and you can just hit the button and the car starts. That would be kind of cool to duplicate in an older muscle car.
Also, if you get rid of the key, how would you just turn on your car to just "accesories" so you can play the radio, or turn it to "on/run" so you can lower your windows and the like.
also, can you use the same "push to start" button to start and stop the car?
What I was thinking of doing was replacing my column with one without a ignition switch, and maybe adding one somewhere else, and just having a "push to start" button on the dash.
I remember reading somewhere on here that a guy wired up one of those painless switch panels as his ignition, and the switches had to be configured the right way for the car to start, that pretty cool.
Also, I remember seeing some type of security device, cant recall where, that was shaped like a circle with a bunch of male pins in it, there was another half that had the female pins in it that was wired to the vehicles ignition. You had to insert that into the dash so your car would start. Maybe I could just use that for a "key" but then there would be no "acc" feature, just an "on/run"

Oh well just spilling my ideas out there! Let me know what you guys think!

[brrymnvette]

The push to start works off triangulation on most of the newer cars. Your key fob has a sensor in it. There are usually 3-4 sensors in the car. When you are in the car those sensors can tell that the keys are in the car nad inbetween all the sensors by the sensor in the key fob. That is what allows the start button to be activated. If you could get the triangualtion system out of a newer car then you could do it. Hope that makes sense.

[rjp71]

This is how the push to start works in my M5. The key can be in my pocket or inserted in the steering column (only reason to do this is to charge the key). If the car is in neutral and my foot is on the brake, the car will start when I push the start/stop button. If the car is in gear and/or my foot is off the brake the car will be in "accessory" mode.

I imagine the other manufacturers systems work the same.

[esenior]

I've got an '06 M45 with this technology in it. They Key FOB has an RFID tag in it. I believe there are 3 sensors in the car to determine the position of the FOB. that way, the care will only open the trunk if you are standing directly behind it. In fact it is so sensitive, that once I threw the FOB into the passenger seat (gym bag), but the car wouldn't start. I had to put the gym bag in my lap in order to start the car.

I've also been considering doing this, but recently decided to remove the door handles and install electric latches. In order to get into the car, I'm going to have to push a button on a FOB or add a button to the car. Instead, I decided to go with the Push-To-Start ignition, but I'm going to "activate" the system via the Key FOB.

If you are interested in pursuing the RFID option, I'd recommend looking into a book called RFID Toys. You can get it from Amazon.com.

Let us know what you end up doing.....Eric (69 Camaro Convertible)