Comfort Access: Does a car move without the key fob inside the vehicle?
 

Hi,

I am wondering....

I parked my X5, left the engine turned on and took the key fob out of the vehicle, but my wife was still able to drive the vehicle even though 'No Key' warning on display. She did not drive far. She came back noticing she did not have her key in her bag.

Is it normal? I think, without the key inside vehicle, the vehicle should not move.

It is quite normal.

It will run without the key, but it will not start.

This is a safety feature, e.g., you don't want the engine to stop running while you are driving if that's the time the battery finally gives out and the comfort access quits working.

You should get a "no key" warning.

If your kid throws the remote out the window while you are going 60 on the freeway!

Are you sure there wasn't a no key warning or that your wife didn't actually have her key somewhere in her purse where it would take a psychic to find it (like with my wife's purses)?

Like others said, the vehicle can be driven without the key in the vehicle. But it cannot be restarted.

And like the others noted, do you really want your vehicle to quit the instant the key is undetected? Battery dying? Antenna receiver fault? A kid dunking the key inside his water bottle? "Hey dad look, it floats!"

The OP said in the first post that he had the 'No Key' warning.

Some additional info, according to the Owner's Manual. If the key is not in the vehicle, you can restart the engine if (a) you do it within ten seconds of stopping the engine, and (b) you don't open a door.

^ interesting. Not sure of the reasoning behind that though. And I would've liked that it cannot shift from Park to Drive/Reverse if no key is detected. The car gives ample warning of a dying fob battery... I used mine for quite a few weeks before finally changing out the battery. Maybe BMW didn't want cases of stranded vehicles should it be an electronic glitch? I've had it tell me it wasn't detected for a few seconds even with the key in my pocket (new battery).

side note: one of my favorite features is leaving the car running and still being able to lock the door (touch handle), do my 30-60 second task, then come back. I hate turning the vehicle off and back on so quickly. Comfort access is pretty sweet in that regard.

The local valets here know me well as i tend to forget the key is in my pocket and walk away from the valet stand without giving it to them..thier half of the ticket always says "NO KEY" cause they can park it, but not lock or restart it....