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For the Gadget Lover....

GM's new key fob can check fuel level, tire pressures

For sleepless car owners who decide they need to check their tire pressure in the middle of the night, General Motors has a solution.
GM (GM) plans to introduce a remote-control key fob next April that will allow drivers to not only determine the pressure in each tire, but also check the odometer reading, see if there's enough fuel in the tank to make it to work in the morning, change the radio station settings and see if they remembered to lock the car doors, to name a few.

The device will be a $150 option on Cadillac Escalade luxury SUVs and other full-size GM SUVs, pickups and crossover-utility vehicles.

"One of the overarching themes people told us they wanted was security and safety," GM spokesman Tom Henderson says. Being able to reassure themselves about their vehicles without leaving the house is one way to satisfy that.

The feature builds on GM's expertise as the first automaker to introduce remote start, which made its debut in the 2004 Chevrolet Malibu and now is available from other automakers and as an add-on accessory.

GM says it will be first to offer remote two-way communication with the vehicle using a liquid-crystal display on the fob. The fob will operate at four to six times the range of competitors' keyless entry systems, GM says.

Automakers have been giving the remote-control key fob more and more tasks beyond the ability to lock or unlock the doors from a distance. Some will operate the power windows. Others are keyed to a car's memory settings and reset seats, mirrors, stereo and other functions to the driver's preference after a different driver has been using the vehicle.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz offer systems that adjust a vehicle's seats and mirrors to a drivers' personal preferences not from the fob, but as soon as the driver touches the outside door handle.

Volvo is planning a keyless entry system that can detect a heartbeat and alert the driver if someone is lurking inside the car. That'll be introduced on a new version of the S80 sedan in the USA in February. The same technology, with some changes, should eventually be able to remind drivers if they forget and leave children in the car.

GM says its two-way fob will cost less than $100 to replace if it's lost or broken. And it should be hard to break, Henderson says. For testing, it's been dropped, dunked underwater and sprayed with saltwater.

GM says the feature probably will be considered a bargain. Consumer test panels showed that interest in the feature rose, rather than fell, when panel members were told what GM planned to charge.

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Marty Howard
2011 NASA SE Factory Five Challenge Champion
Track Events Logistics Coordinator - TZC/THSCC
2007 Factory Five Challenge Car.
http://www.mh-motorsports.com

Will I need two of them? One to open the doors and the other to start the car?

Nope -- just keep the key fob in your pocket, get in the car and push the start button. This is the way c6 corvettes work now. It is pretty cool. You don't even have to hit the unlock button. Just walk up next to the car and the doors unlock and the seats and mirrors adjust to your settings.

adamb

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Adam Breakey
Founder - www.autocrossforum.com
SS 75 Red(isfasterthanyellow) Z06

I forget about my kids all the time. Sometimes I leave them at the store, sometimes in the car overnight. Sometimes they just show up at the front door and I can't even remember where I had left them, but they still seem to find their way home!! Anyhow, thanks GM! I really have been looking for this feature!

I think what I really need is a second fob that will tell me where I lost my first fob. I can keep a third fob that will find the second if it is lost. And so on...

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Yeah, I think I'm becoming a luddite, many of the new "features" on cars these days I'd rather not have. The auto parallel parking system on the new LS460 scares me. Also Did I mention I cannot stand automatic climate control systems? I really don't like the one on the Corvette. You can turn it off, but if I do something in the manual settings it doesn't like, it seems to turn itself back on, it sure loves to turn the a/c compressor on to.

The parallel parking thing is ridiculous. If you can't park a car then you shouldn't have a license. Then again I noticed that parallel parking is not tested on the drivers license in Raleigh. It sure as heck was in New England.

The Auto Climate Contorl in the C5 is annoying. My C4 had the previous version of the system. It did what you told it do when set to manual. Hence what manual should mean. This newer one seems to think it has a better idea. And yes, the first thing is to always turn the AC compressor back on... But I do like the HUD and the DIC displays and the fact that you can display all codes, reset them, and a bunch of other things that aren't in the owners manual

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http://www.greywinds.com

Most annoying thing is when the stupid thing turns the a/c compressor on, and you push the button to turn it off and it just blinks at you and stays on. Its like the car is scolding you, "uh uh uh, you better stop that I know better than you". But yeah, the HUD and DIC are great and I like the idea of the auto-unlock, keyless push button start of the C6, I just hope there is a manual backup for when it breaks as inevitably it will.

climate control is for wussies. windows down all the time.

hey Les, if you put the key in the door lock and turn it to your left the hatch will pop. or at least i think that is what i remember reading. twice to the right unlocks the passenger door also.

suburbans kick the ac on when auto climate control is engaged also. GM quirk apparently. wait till the auto seat memory goes fubar. per the official print out "no known cure" "software issue".

If you get a new Solstice with OnStar, it reports cone hits as accidents. Nothing like the operator asking if you need assistance in the middle of a run...

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

Maybe if the put their efforts into designing a car lock that prevents any middle school dropout with a venitian blind slat opening in 2 sec or less there would be no way anyone could be hiding in the back seat waiting for you...
I guess a lot of adults have never gotten over their fear of the Boogey man under the bed.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.