Why push button start NGC car?

[steven c]

 We just bought a 2016 Mazda3 sport 2.0, The only thing I don't like is the push button start, whats the point? I can turn a $4.00 key and you only get one FOB start thing which cost a couple of hundred dollars for a spare. In my 45 years of driving never once did I think turning on a car, boy there most be an easier way.

[LowRyter]

yeah.  common thing now.  stupid.

heck, I think electric seat adjusters are stupid and slow.  A person can't lean and push a seat with his feet? 

Dumber yet.  My Corvette has electric door latches too, seats and a start button.   

[jas67]

We just bought a 2016 Mazda3 sport 2.0, The only thing I don't like is the push button start, whats the point? I can turn a $4.00 key and you only get one FOB start thing which cost a couple of hundred dollars for a spare. In my 45 years of driving never once did I think turning on a car, boy there most be an easier way.

It only came with one FOB?     My VW has pushbutton start, and came with two.  Did you buy the Mazda new, or preowned?     If preowned, I'm thinking that the original owner lost one of them.

[Kev m]

Reason is simple, and AWESOME!

You just have to carry the damn thing (in a pocket, a bag, wherever), then walk up, open the door, sit down, press a button.

It's fantastic.

I was so pissed to go BACK to a regular key with my Wrangler two years ago.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Just more crap to go wrong...

[Gliderjohn]

Since the writing is on the wall I took the plunge about a week ago and bought a 2015 Nissan Altima. Everything is tied into one electronic system and has the push button start/stop. We will see. I still remember all the hand wringing and dire predictions when cars started getting electronic ignition. Time will tell.
GliderJohn

[Sheepdog]

My biggest complaint about fobs is that I can't hang them on a carabiner. I love that I can just walk up to my locked car and open the door without fishing out my fob. I also love that I've now got an everyday use for the watch pocket on my jeans...

[Matteo]

No more messed up ignitions switches. Also makes it harder to steal.

[oldbike54]

 Haven't E start motorbikes always required pushing a button to start ?

 Dusty

[Tusayan]

Reason is simple, and AWESOME!

You just have to carry the damn thing (in a pocket, a bag, wherever), then walk up, open the door, sit down, press a button.

It's fantastic.

Mazdas had keyless entry and start prior to push button 'one touch' starting.  Instead of pushing a button to command the start sequence via software, you instead turned a knob located where an ignition key would otherwise have been inserted.  If your 'thing's' battery was dead, you removed the hidden key from the 'thing' and inserted it in the same place to start the car regardless, in the same way. 

With the current system, if your 'thing's battery is dead, you do this instead:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAzZZcSQNeY  If you forget the procedure, which I'm pretty sure you might after a couple of years, it'd be good if your iPhone has a full charge and your phone connection is good, so you can refresh your memory with the video!

The older system was more intuitive and provided the same benefits, except that a keyed ignition lock costs more money than a push button switch.  Which is the reason for the change.

[Sheepdog]

Haven't E start motorbikes always required pushing a button to start ?

 Dusty

Cars, too...back in the day. The M151A1 1/4 ton tactical vehicle (the predecessor of the HUMVEE) had a push button behind the clutch pedal...

[oldbike54]

Cars, too...back in the day. The M151A1 1/4 ton tactical vehicle (the predecessor of the HUMVEE) had a push button behind the clutch pedal...

 Yep , and some of us remember that most cars had a floor mounted starter switch that required stepping on .

 Dusty

[Kiwi_Roy]

It's just getting you ready for self driving cars, pretty soon you will walk out and the car will say "bugger off, I'm not going there, it's raining out"

[Kev m]

Mazdas had keyless entry and start prior to push button 'one touch' starting.  Instead of pushing a button to command the start sequence via software, you instead turned a knob located where an ignition key would otherwise have been inserted.  If your 'thing's' battery was dead, you removed the hidden key from the 'thing' and inserted it in the same place to start the car regardless, in the same way. 

With the current system, if your 'thing's battery is dead, you do this instead:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQkNqu4DCvU  If you forget the procedure, which I'm pretty sure you will after a couple of years, it'd be good if your iPhone has a full charge and your phone connection is good, so you can watch the video!

The older system was more intuitive and provided the same benefits, except that a keyed ignition lock costs more money than a push button switch.  Which is the reason for the change.

Not sure about Mazda, but on the the Jeep, Nissan, and I think Subaru systems you just hold the fob against the button if the battery on the fob dies.

But they give notice when they are getting weak.

Some of them had hidden keys in the fob to get you in the door in case of a dead battery in the fob...

[Aaron D.]

Well, with the ECU literally running everything, the engineers have figured out that having it also control starting will allow better control of all the parameters. Nothing really likely to go wrong as far as the actual button.

My current car has the soft-start, but no wireless fob, so I actually insert the key into the dash and push.

[bad Chad]

Just more crap to go wrong...

That's exactly what my Grandfather used to say about electric windows!

[steven c]

 My wife is going from her 97 Saab 900 that she has had for 17 years to the Mazda, I think she is in for a learning curve just to find the radio!

[Bud]

     Congratulations on the car Steve! I like the fob with our Altima. As others have said, keep the fob in your pocket push the button on the door to lock or unlock the doors and push the button to start. If I were you I would spurge on another fob though. One for you and Cory. You will have the fob in your pocket head out on the Guzzi and Cory will be stranded!

[Lannis]

That's exactly what my Grandfather used to say about electric windows!

1) He was right.

2) It's still true.

3) My car doesn't have electric windows.   

I'm sure that there are some people that would have a massive panic attack if they saw that the car they were in had a window crank ....

Lannis

[Kev m]

Agreed I hate carrying keys. When I 1st got my 2017 Tacoma I was skeptical. Now its just get in hit the button an go. Impossible to lock your fob in the vehicle and just easier. Biggest thing to remember is like yesterday traveled together. I drove to the destination and had the fob on my pocket. Wifey drove home and was going to drop me off and go to the store. Glad she remembered the fob was in my pocket or she'd have been calling from the store for me to bring her the fob.

Having a key to stick in the ignition and turn is no more reliable than the push button. If the computer(s) and/or electronics aren't working turning a key back and forth is no better than continually hitting the start button.

Ah we each have our own keys to each other's cars. It helps with her's especially since when I approach the driver's door with my fob in the pocket the seat adjusts so I can get in without banging my knee on the steering wheel. That the mirrors and radio presets adjust too is just icing on the cake.

[Tusayan]

Nothing really likely to go wrong as far as the actual button.

What do you think happens when you hold up a dead battery remote entry 'thing' to the button, and it recognizes the 'thing' and allows you to start the car?  That function can and will go wrong, its not just a momentary contact switch, and its already been a problem on motorcycles: earlier R1200R BMWs (2012) had this problem, until they came up with a fix.  Many bikes were stranded just because the RFID receiver broke.

[Tusayan]

Having a key to stick in the ignition and turn is no more reliable than the push button. If the computer(s) and/or electronics aren't working turning a key back and forth is no better than continually hitting the start button.

I think there is a substantial difference in complexity between the car having an computerized start sequence triggered by RFID recognition and a momentary contact switch, and manual starting with the electronics energized by the ignition lock.  More complexity is not typically the route to more reliability or longevity.

There is also a substantial difference in complexity and reliability between requiring RFID to allow even the backup start sequence (with a dead battery in the remote entry/start 'thing') and allowing backup starting with only a mechanical key/lock, without requiring RFID.

[steven c]

 With the Mazda3 you still need to push the button on the fob to open the door so you still need have it in your hand. We will adapt. You can get the FOB on Amazon for around $60 then you have to get it programed at the dealer go to a lock Smith. Mazda only gives you one.

[Lannis]

Well, with the ECU literally running everything, the engineers have figured out that having it also control starting will allow better control of all the parameters. Nothing really likely to go wrong as far as the actual button.

The starter button was on the floor on old cars, because when you pushed it, a big metal bar actually went across from battery positive to the starter.   There wasn't even a relay.   For all I know, there might not even have been a solenoid .... !

No "startus interruptus", no batteries failing in remotes ....

Lannis

[jas67]

I'm sure that there are some people that would have a massive panic attack if they saw that the car they were in had a window crank ....

My 2006 F350 actually has manual crank windows.    I hate that I can't open and close all the windows while under way, as the cab is 6' wide, and my arms aren't long enough to reach the passenger side window crank.

Funny story.    We took my, at the time, 11 year old niece with us on a camping trip.    Not long into the trip she pointed at the windows crank, and asked it it was.   

[Lannis]

My 2006 F350 actually has manual crank windows.    I hate that I can't open and close all the windows while under way, as the cab is 6' wide, and my arms aren't long enough to reach the passenger side window crank.

Funny story.    We took my, at the time, 11 year old niece with us on a camping trip.    Not long into the trip she pointed at the windows crank, and asked it it was.   

First electric windows I ever saw were on a crew cab construction pickup.   Friend of mine owned a small construction company, and would pick up a crew at the end of a workday and take them back to the shop.

At the end of a long, hot, sweaty day, he didn't want to ask them "Hey, would you mind rolling down your window .... ?"

I don't know about all these gizmos.   It's like "My new car is so great; you don't have to go to all the trouble of turning your wrist, you can just push a button"

or "Remember when you had to hold the electric window button down THE WHOLE TIME IT WAS RAISING OR LOWERING?   Now you just touch it once and it goes down by itself, oh my God what a relief that is, I can't believe people used to live like that .... "

I would love to see a world where everyone including me had to hand-crank their car to get it started ... I still hand-crank my old Farmall just to keep my hand in ....

Lannis

[Tusayan]

I would love to see a world where everyone including me had to hand-crank their car to get it started ... I still hand-crank my old Farmall just to keep my hand in ....

Would a airplane count? 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3zXkVQnVmuo

[pete roper]

My soon to be departed Mazda CX-3, (We hate it, actually we don't, hate would involve an element of passion and there is nothing in the Mazda to evoke anything but snores!) has keyless entry and button start. I just find it tiresome. Luckily the new vehicle is a 'Commercial' so it doesn't have any such niceties!

Pete

[Phang]

1) He was right.

2) It's still true.

3) My car doesn't have electric windows.   

I'm sure that there are some people that would have a massive panic attack if they saw that the car they were in had a window crank ....

Lannis

When we visited my mother at my hometown last December, I used my mother's car to drive around the town.

The air condition didn't work so I asked my 13 years old son to wind down the window on his side.

He was panic and didn't know what to to with the window crank. I have to show him how I do it and now he is wondering how I can wind the window faster than our own car.

Yes, he also asked me about the manual gear shifting and the third pedal.

[Gliderjohn]

Crank starting my old tractor on a cold morning is not fun, fortunately have not had too for years. Have prop started a Cessna 182 a number of times, makes me very nervous.
GliderJohn