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Cars and car keys have always been paired together, and no one intends to split them up anytime soon. The traditional perception of keys might change, but there will always be something in place to ensure that a car can be operated and controlled. There are many different facets to automotive security, and your car keys play a much greater role in this than you would imagine. Keyless entry remotes are helping enhance some key aspects of automotive security. Let’s take a look at some of the ways in which it does this.
A keyless entry remote is a convenient piece of technology that gives drivers and car owners much more options when it comes to the manner in which they interact with their vehicles. The keyless entry remote has revolutionized the way people use their cars, and in doing so, some aspects of automotive security have been enhanced. This is one of the reasons why so many drivers have opted for key fob replacements. As the name suggests, you will be able to interact with your car without necessarily always having to use a key. This is usually accomplished using a key fob or a keyless entry remote. Before we dive into the ways in which a keyless entry remote can enhance automotive security, let us take a look at the manner in which a keyless entry remote works. Having a basic understanding of how these remotes interact with vehicles is integral to understanding the impact that they have on security.
Whenever you use a keyless entry remote, you are utilizing a radio transmitter to send signals to your car. These signals are meant to specify what action you want the car to execute. This transmitter works in conjunction with a receiver that is already embedded within your vehicle. Essentially, a keyless entry remote would not function the way it was intended to if there was no receiver in place to pick up the signals that were being transmitted. At that point you would just be pressing buttons to no avail. Over the years, these systems have become much more advanced and have eliminated some of the issues they faced after their inception, but they still rely on the same basic concept. This simple concept is the communication between two devices.
The keyless entry remote has a great number of benefits. Chief among these is that it makes vehicles more accessible to their owners. In order to give the car a multitude of commands, the transmitter has to send different signals to the receiver, and this ensures that no action is out of place. The microchip within the key fob is programmed to generate different codes, and once the receiver acknowledges these codes, the action is executed. For instance, your chip will generate a different code if you want to open your car door, as opposed to if you want to lock it. In the same fashion, the receiver will be waiting to get the right code before any of these actions are executed.
Understanding the basic nature of a keyless entry remote helps give you an idea of the way it works, and the way it can enhance the entire automotive experience. However, people often overlook the security benefits of a keyless entry remote. This does not really come as a surprise since many individuals are mostly enamored with things that make life more convenient, which sometimes causes them to forget that security is extremely important. Let’s discuss some of the ways in which a keyless entry remote impacts, and enhances, automotive security.
One of the most well-known benefits of a keyless entry remote is the fact that it allows you to control your car remotely. Of course, this simple actions is convenient, but people do not take the time to understand how that convenience can lead to better security. In a general sense, the ability to be able to operate some basic functions of your car without always having to be close to it can give you an edge. For instance, if you forget to lock your car one night, you will not have to venture out into the darkness to make sure your car is secure. This action can now be accomplished from a safe distance. Please keep in mind that you will not be able to operate your car from a mile away. These keyless entry remotes generally function within a predetermined radius, which is also done to keep your vehicle secure. For most vehicles, the distance between the keyless entry remote and the vehicle can be upwards of 100 feet.
The instant locking features that keyless entry remotes provide help enhance automotive security, and they reduce the chances of anyone taking advantage of you and your car. Locks are mostly used to restrict the access that particular groups of people have to certain things, and the same holds true when it comes to cars and automotive security. Car door locks are important because they help restrict the use of the vehicle to only authorized individuals.
Keyless entry remotes have increased the rate of response between car door locks and their respective drivers. This means that drivers are able to lock or unlock their doors faster (which comes in handy during an emergency), and this helps keep the car, and the driver much more secure than ever before. With a keyless entry remote, the simple push of a button allows you to properly secure your vehicle. However, you should be aware of the fact that instant locking features do not make your car impervious to damage, so if you are ever in an emergency situation, your recourse should always be to call for emergency services. Also, you should make sure that you practice automotive safety habits to help increase the overall safety of your vehicle.
The use of a keyless entry remote makes it much more difficult for anyone who might attempt to duplicate your car keys. The thing about burglars and thieves is that they know how to effectively use their time. Ideally, if there is a faster way to do something you can be sure that they are going to try it. When it comes to car keys, burglars do not always need to have constant access to your key in order to gain access to your car. Sometimes all it takes is someone getting ahold of your key for less than 30 seconds. That is about the average amount of time needed to get enough information about a key to make a functioning duplicate. However, when it comes to keyless entry remotes, the absence of a key makes unauthorized car key duplication much more difficult. In the absence of a key, there is nothing left for burglars to quickly impression and this helps keep your car effectively secure.
I am sure that some of you are wondering about those cars that make use of transponder keys and keyless entry remotes. What would happen if a burglar was able to grab your transponder key and impression it? Due to the fact that there has to be some form of communication between the chips in the key, and the inner electronics of the car, a burglar will not be able to drive off with your car if they are able to make a duplicate. The most they will be able to do is unlock the doors of your car if there is a keyway (most Tesla’s don’t have that problem).
Due to this precedent, it is now harder for thieves to make simple duplicate car keys that might give them access to people’s cars. More often than not, a keyless entry remote is paired with a programmed transponder key that can be used to operate the car’s ignition. A transponder key follows the same blueprint of a keyless entry remote and uses two-way communication for verification processes. This means that there is a chip within your transponder key that is programmed to the internal electronics of your car, and only the right transponder key can be used to start the vehicle. With a keyless entry remote and a transponder key there is a very small window of opportunity that car thieves can exploit. The same concept applies even if you do not have a transponder key, because your keyless entry remote will accomplish the same task.
As with most things, people are often tempted to look at security in a linear fashion. However, I have always been one to say that security should be thought of as an ever evolving organism where nothing can ever truly be perfect. In saying this, I mean that there is always room for improvement, even if it is in small incremental steps that come together nicely when you’re looking at the big picture. As far as the big picture goes, keyless entry remotes have made great strides towards making sure that car keys cannot be compromised, and this lends itself to enhancing overall automotive security.
For the most part, your car keys can be compromised if they are stolen or lost. A keyless entry remote does away with the latter, simply because a majority of cars that have keyless entry remotes do not make use of keys. A regular key starts to experience wear and tear after several years, especially if it used on a daily basis.
Another benefit of a keyless entry remote is the fact that it becomes much harder for anyone to steal your vehicle and compromise the security of your car. As I pointed out earlier on, the basic functions of a keyless entry remote are built around communication between two entities, and these are the receiver and the transmitter. This means that in order for your car to be able to execute some of its more base functions, the proper codes have to be exchanged.
In the instance that a burglar is able to gain access to your vehicle, there will be no way for them to start the vehicle because there will be no way for them to bypass the necessary transmission codes. In the past, it was much easier for thieves to gain access to anyone’s car. This could have been done by duplicating a car key, hot wiring the internal electronics, as well as several other nefarious methods. With the advent of keyless entry remotes, the aforementioned methods have become obsolete and cars have become much more secure.
If anyone has ever been locked outside of a car in an emergency, fumbling for keys, they can attest to the fact that it is not a generally fun experience. There is really no way to plan for the exact moment when an emergency will occur. However, there are some measures you can employ that make it much easier to safely navigate an emergency when it arises.
In effect, the use of a keyless entry remote means that there will be less time spent using your keys out in the open or having to compromise your safety because you cannot reach your keys in time. Time is an essential factor in emergencies, and having more on your side is always a good thing. Keyless entry remotes make the entire process of unlocking your car much more efficient. This means that you will not have to be fidgeting with your keys when there is an emergency looming.
The use of a keyless entry remote makes key maintenance so much easier as well, and this helps enhance your automotive security a great deal. What is key maintenance? Well, I’m glad you asked! Key maintenance should be approached in two parts, and this is because a key does not work in isolation. There would be no use for a key if there were no locks in place. This is why key maintenance also encapsulates proper lock maintenance because these two elements work hand in hand.
Key maintenance is easily defined as taking proper care of your keys and your locks so that they do not experience excess wear and tear. This can be done by regularly cleaning and lubricating them, or trying not to exert too much pressure on your keys. Thanks to a keyless entry remote, most car owners will not have to worry about the demands of key maintenance. It becomes much easier than ever before. This is simply because the usual maintenance that comes with a keyless entry remote amounts to changing out a battery every now and then.
Once you have a key, there is always the inherent possibility that you might break your key off in your lock. This is mostly because the wear and tear that keys experience as they are used every day. In most cases, people do not take the wear and tear of their keys into account, even though they should. Keys are not built to last forever, and each time they are used they are gradually worn down. Using a key that is worn down increases the chances of said key breaking off in the lock. It is important to be aware that this is not the only way a key breaks in a lock though. In some cases, it is simply because excess force was applied while the key was in use.
However, this problem is virtually non-existent when it comes to a keyless entry remote. This is because there is essentially no key to be used, so there is no key to wear down or any key to break in a lock. Even if you have a keyless entry remote that is paired with a transponder key, there is still a reduced chance of your key breaking in the lock. The reason being that you will not be using the physical key to unlock the car.
There are many more benefits to keyless entry remotes, some which might not have been addressed in the sections above. Not all of these benefits are couched in security, but they are all mostly geared towards making traditional actions much more convenient. The keyless entry remote is an advancement on a longstanding and integral part of automotive history, and it has aided in increased automotive security. As I alluded to above, make sure that you do not neglect basic security protocols simply because you now have a keyless entry remote. Security is a layered organism, and it works best when there are multiple measures in place.
Category: Automotive, Buying Guides, Car Keys, Crime, Safety & Security
