GM's new key fob can check fuel level, tire pressures
Posted 11/15/2006 1:00 AM ET
The new fob will be a $150 option next year with Cadillac Escalades and other GM vehicles.
By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
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
