How the Car Keys Technology Has Evolved in the Last Few Years
Tiny in size but so potent and useful; yes your car keys are your door to access your vehicle wherever you are. While technology has overtaken every aspect of our lives, the car keys have also grown and evolved in every aspect we can imagine since the time they were first introduced.
This makes us to think how the concept and physicality of car keys have changed. Well, here we discuss some key moments and instances in the history that has played a key role in giving the car keys the variations we have come to notice.
If we talk about the earlier times, the car key was just a piece of metal which came along with push-buttons that were implemented in the cars to start the car ignition. For many years to come, the basic metal car keys became the norm in the industry, going through bits if changes and modifications.
Car Keys Evolution in the Last Few Years
For many years we were familiar with the keys that could be made or duplicated in a hardware store. However, in 1980’s we started seeing newer concepts emerging. It was the first time a coded resistor to the key was added by Chevrolet that brought about an advanced anti-theft system.
Apart from it, as used by the Cadillac Allanté in 1980’s came the installation of remote key fobs, an enhanced way of locking and unlocking the car doors. Ford also introduced key-less entry keypads on the doors of their models that we can witness even today.
Along with the extra smart features, the need for enhanced security features in basic designs was understood and implemented by Lexus in 1990, which used the laser-cut key for the first time as this design was supposedly impossible to replicate and therefore provided the advanced security layers to car owners. In the same year, Mercedes brought a new key system that would flip out of the remote-locking fob and became highly popular, which you can still see in several modern Volkswagen’s.
Car Keys Evolution
While General Motors experimented with proximity key-less entry systems in early 1990’s, but it was unlike the proximity fobs of today as in it could only lock and unlock the doors through a nearby distance but still required a traditional ignition key to start the car. This technology was taken to a level up by Mercedes Benz in 2003 when it introduced the fully functional key fob that resembled a credit card design and could easily be carried in the wallet.
The next wave of advanced technology integrated car key systems were introduced just a few years ago when, in 2016, BMW brought display keys that simulated the working of a smartphone and offers multiple additional features like setting climate control, info about fuel level, whether lights are on, if the doors are locked, and can even park the car without a driver via the touchscreen. In 2018 Tesla brought smartphone app key for its Model 3, much more advanced than BMW’s display keys, as it works by mimicking a proximity key and comes along with a card-style key that will come to your aid when your phone’s battery dies.
If you want to know more interesting facts about the evolution of vehicle keys, you can always get in touch with a professional Dallas locksmith, and see where your key stands in this growth of technology.
Leave A Comment