Push Button Ignition in Cars

Paladin1950

Paladin1950

Still love 50's & 60's music!
Location
Mohawk Valley, NY
My Mitsubishi is the very first car that I ever drove that has the push button ignition. In the past, I needed to insert the key, to start the car. The very first time that I saw a push button ignition was in an episode of The Avengers. Emma Peel got into her little sports car, and pushed a button, and her car started. I remember being rather stunned and thinking, "How cool is that!". It seemed so futuristic at the time. Only recently, I read that the 1912 Cadillac had a push button ignition as well. Well when I first drove my 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport in 2019, and had to push the button, to start my car, I found myself thinking of Emma Peel in her little convertible. I must have been thinking, "Well, it took a little over 50 years, but I finally got one myself!"
 

Yes my car has a push button
Plus no handbrake and gears on the side of the steering wheel 🫤
 

My 1952 Mercury had a push-button but first you inserted the key. I test drove a new Jeep two years ago and it had a jigger you just carried into the car and served as a key. Why do they have to do easy things the hard way anymore?
 
I think Paladin 1950’s car is like mine. There is no key. Everything is totally electronic. The key fob locks the doors and raises/lowers the rear hatch, plus emergency button. They have been around for a few years.
 
Chet said:
My 1952 Mercury had a push-button but first you inserted the key.
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That's the way I remember our old junker family car. I think it may have been a Plymouth. You could look through the floorboards and see the pavement. I think, but can't be sure, that it was built in the 1930s.
 
My Honda Hybrid doesn't make a sound when I push the button to start it. No starter, either. It's like turning on a light.
When I first test drove it, I started it & told the salesman, "Why isn't it starting?"
 
Our late 1950s Buick (or maybe Oldsmobile) had a starter button under the gas pedal. Insert the key, press the accelerator to the floor, and the engine started. :D
 
Tommy said:
Our late 1950s Buick (or maybe Oldsmobile) had a starter button under the gas pedal. Insert the key, press the accelerator to the floor, and the engine started. :D
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I forgot about those. Some had the starter button right next to the gas pedal, so you could step on both at the same time with one foot.
 
Tommy said:
Our late 1950s Buick (or maybe Oldsmobile) had a starter button under the gas pedal. Insert the key, press the accelerator to the floor, and the engine started. :D
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That would be the Buick. The accelerator starting system was first used by Buick in 1934, and continued until 1960. It still amazes people when you start the car by "magic". (y) (y)
 
I just recently bought a new GMC Terraine that has push button starter and transmission, I'm still getting used to it, One thing I really like is that the trunk will open just by movement of your legs on the left side of the trunk, if you have you key on your person, very handy if you have your hands full.
 
Jackie23 said:
I just recently bought a new GMC Terraine that has push button starter and transmission, I'm still getting used to it, One thing I really like is that the trunk will open just by movement of your legs on the left side of the trunk, if you have you key on your person, very handy if you have your hands full.
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Now that is a gizmo I could do with. Imagine the face of the nearby motorists when you quote Ali-Baba: "Open sesame" or, if you really wanted to show off, say it in French: "SĂ©same, ouvre-toi."

("Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" in Antoine Galland's version of One Thousand and One Nights. It opens the mouth of a cave in which forty thieves have hidden a treasure. Antoine Galland being French.)
 
jimintoronto said:
A friend who owns a 2019 Mercedes lost his key fob, and it cost him over $300 to get a new one coded, and it took 2 weeks to be sent from Montreal, which where the MB Canada parts distribution warehouse is located. JImB.
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My job requires many visits to the locksmith, I’ve overheard these conversations. Ouch.
 
Our vehicles are fairly old, but in good shape. When I look at new cars....online....I am amazed at all the "gee whiz" stuff the manufacturers install now. About the Only feature I would find worthwhile would be a Backup camera. If/when we buy a new car, I would probably have to spend a half hour playing with these things before I felt comfortable enough to drive off the dealers lot.
 
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Aunt Mavis said:
My job requires many visits to the locksmith, I’ve overheard these conversations. Ouch.
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Wen I was doing repos back in the late 90's for a number of leasing companies here in Toronto, I convinced them to made duplicate key sets before they delivered the vehicle to the customer, and attach the keys to the paper file folder, so if I had to go and get it, I had the spare keys. For ( at that time ) a cost of about $10, it sure made my work easier. I only did leases, because when you lease something, you NEVER OWN IT.

By doing a repo I was returning the vehicle to the legal owner, the leasing company, whose name was on the Provincial registration document, because the customer was more than 60 days in arrears. In about 8 years of doing that job, I never had any one pull a gun on me ( this is Canada after all ) and I was able to recover the vehicle in over 90 percent of my cases. My motto was " no recovery, no invoice ". The clients paid me for positive results. JimB.
 
Mrs. L's new car has a start/stop button while in all her previous cars you had to turn the ignition key. She still habitually reaches for the non- existent key to stop the engine :oops: It's a bit weird just having to put the wireless key in your pocket, walk up to your car and it unlocks. When you get out and walk away, it lock the doors and makes a 'beep beep' sound. You can adjust the range at which the lock/unlock operates.
 
Don M. said:
About the Only feature I would find worthwhile would be a Backup camera. If/when we buy a new car,
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I wouldn’t be without one now. There’s also the warning system when you’re too close to another object. And not only the heated seat, the heated steering wheel is great too.

Adding: the topic was keyless starters. They’re great because the fob can be in the bottom of your purse and never pulled out.
 
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My 38 Ford convertible had the key on the steering column and a start button on the left side of the dash. It also had a rumble (dickey) seat.

On my 51 MG TD you turned on the key and pulled a knob to start it.

My 61 Dodge Lancer had a row of buttons on the left side of the dash for a transmission selector.

My present 2012 convertible is a key start. It only has 38000 miles on it. I doubt that I will ever own a car that is keyless.
 
.....I just remembered another thing about my new car, I was driving down the road and came upon a crew repairing the road, lots of heavy machinery and a tight squeeze to get around it....well my seat started to vibrating and making a buzzing noise...lol.. as soon as I got home I got the book out and read that it was a danger alert!! The seat scare was worse than the danger....
I thought about turning it off but on second thought, no, I'll leave it on.
 

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