Winter is coming...

Thus I find myself leaving my car running when I have to do a quick errand like refilling my coffe at the service station, or getting some groceries. More often than not my toddlers are in the car. The idea of someone driving off with them while I'm gone is very unpleasant. On my mk2 Octavia I would lock the car manually with the spare key, but the mk3 has the keyhole hidden under a cap, and as such is a hassle to get to.

 

So in the depths of the internets I found the solution to enable the mk3 to acknowledge radio signals from the second keyfob. Now I can lock (and unlock) the car while it's running with the main key in the ignition, and don't have to worry about someone taking off with my car and cargo while I'm away.

 

On 09 Central Electronics go to 10 Adaptation and find channel "Access control-Funk bei klemme 15 ein" and change it from "not active" to "active".

 

Is turning the car off and taking the key with you not a much better and safer option?

20 minutes ago, SC03OTT said:

Is turning the car off and taking the key with you not a much better and safer option?

It is most likely the safer choice, yes.

But the kids would freeze, so I would have to bring them with me - turning a quick errand into a three man quest :-)

Freeze? How long are you leaving them for, an hour?!?  They won’t freeze with no heating on for 5 minutes. 

In the UK this is a specific traffic offence called quitting.. and suprise suprise is actually illegal. This means you cannot leave (quit) a vehicle parked with its engine running.

Edited 17 January, 20197 yr by Scotty72

10 minutes ago, SC03OTT said:

Freeze? How long are you leaving them for, an hour?!?  They won’t freeze with no heating on for 5 minutes. 

 

The OP is from Norway. At the moment with all the snow Reindeer and Elk freeze solid in minutes.................

 

 

 

Get an electric car. Leave people in the car and use app to remotely turn on climate control.

 

Biggest benefit is no wasted fuel and no pollution. You are not wasting fuel running a machine, originally intended to generate torque, for its by-product: heat.

 

Norway also have Great EV incentives, much better than here in UK.

1 minute ago, wyx087 said:

Get an electric car. Leave people in the car and use app to remotely turn on climate control.

 

Biggest benefit is no wasted fuel and no pollution. You are not wasting fuel running a machine, originally intended to generate torque, for its by-product: heat.

 

Norway also have Great EV incentives, much better than here in UK.

Yer don't they have more tesla ownership by population than pretty much anywhere else in the world?

3rd largest market for tesla despite population size

https://electrek.co/2017/10/06/tesla-record-norway-registers-lowest-co2-emissions-electric-car/

 

And if they decide to play around with gears??

2 hours ago, SC03OTT said:

Freeze? How long are you leaving them for, an hour?!?  They won’t freeze with no heating on for 5 minutes. 

 

It is a bit different when there is -32°C outside. It's not just the freezing, the moisture from exhale is also significant.

However, I use Webasto for this purpose. I don't leave the car running unattended.

 

52 minutes ago, ords said:

And if they decide to play around with gears??

A valid concern, indeed. The 2y old is not able to unbuckle himselves (yet) luckily. The 6y old knows that it's very bad to touch anything except interior lighting. She is not able to unbuckle her brother, either.

 

Also, it's a DSG so even if she knew how I don't think she would be able to put it in drive. (Press brake while pressing the switch on the lever). 

 

Leaving a car idling is illegal here in Norway, too - and very bad for the environment indeed. 

Winter Is coming? Bruh where do you live?

 

It’s chaos in the entire country - and that says a little, we’re pretty used to snow 

This is a stupid idea.

39 minutes ago, Dodgy said:

This is a stupid idea.

 

Why?

 

Done this for years with no issues. 

i've seen it a lot when it gets below -15 or so... without webasto, things get cold *very* quickly at -30.

 

 - Bret

1 hour ago, Dodgy said:

This is a stupid idea.

 

40 minutes ago, BGB said:

 

Why?

 

Done this for years with no issues. 

 

SWMBO Mini (2017) allows you to walk away with the Key and lock the door with the engine running as Standard.

It's illegal, dangerous, polluting and invalidates your car insurance. In the UK anyway. Dress up warmer and don't leave the kids in a cold car with inappropriate clothing for the weather. If the car broke down, would you all be warm enough?

Just my opinion, no intent to offend.

Or light a small fire in the car....

Get a run lock system fitted.... its basically a relay that fits into the ignition system that once you activate it you can then remove your key from the ignition & lock the doors.

The engine then keeps running but if the handbrake is release or if the brake pedal is pressed the system cuts out & stops the engine.

Most emergency service vehicles are fitted with them so they can be left running while at incidents where they need to keep things powers inside for long periods.

Verry helpful. Thank you, sir!

I think this thread needs to be moderated due to too much offtopic.