Dear LPG, 

It has been a while since ULEZ came to Lewisham, and I am sure I was not the only person who had to decide to give up driving or get a newer car.   I found a younger model, but it took me ages to remember that although it came with a key, there was no actual keyhole to put the key in when it came to starting the car.   Occasionally, I get to the end of a journey and automatically reach behind the steering wheel for the key before remembering that there is no keyhole back there any more.  

Every time I have changed cars, it has taken a while to get used to the new one, but I think that not having to put the key in the keyhole behind the steering wheel is still not a natural thing. I was ready to leave home and got about 20 yards down the road one day before I realised I had left something.  

My friend was in the car with me, so I left her there, got out and returned to the house. But when I returned, I realised the engine was still running even though I had taken the key.   I tried an experiment and found that I can only open the car door from quit a distance away but to turn it on, I have the key close enough.  But once started, the engine will keep running even though I take the key quite a distance away from the car.

I have to say it did bother me a little. 

But then I saw a report on the television that said that car theft is on the rise again, and the keyless ones are being targeted. They did try to explain why keyless cars are so much easier to take, and while I did not understand everything, it appears to be the remote aspect that makes it so easy. 

I recently read an LPG article about the importance of keeping your microwaves in your microwave oven and how to check that they stay there. (►►►),  and I am now learning that they are not the only waves we need to keep track of. Thieves can quickly detect the signal from your key from a distance and use it to open your car's door.

There are a few answers, but one of the most effective is protecting your car key by getting a pouch using the same principles we have learned to defend our contactless bank cards.

It is accepted that oldies are too old to understand all this stuff, but many pensioners still drive and have had to update their cars over the past few years. So even though this whole concept is pretty new, it has to be touching many other oldies as well as me. After all, I am pretty average and old, and I have one of these cars now.

I thought there would be some value in sharing what I have learned, so I asked LPG to leave some relevant links below. 

All this remote technology and the resulting invisible waves need to be seriously 'looked' into…

JC, Brockley 
 

JC offered what he has learned from the internet on this subject..

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…and LPG adds some information on today’s celebration…

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