Yes! "It's always somethin'" I figure that a manual transmission is an anti theft item. I think I got the last roll down windows in my 2009 Toyota Matrix. I had to get it because a tree fell on my similarly appointed Vibe. But this brings me back to my VW Rabbit. It would refuse to start. No turnover. Nothing. I would have it hauled to a dealership and they would find nothing wrong. Time after time, my boss started doubting me about not being able to get to work. Until once it happened AT work. The funny thing was, the times it actually did start were the times I got so mad at it , I swore at it, jumped on it over and over... stomped around and then tried to start it and voila! it would start. My neighbors already wondered about me, so, swearing violently at my car was no big deal. The dealership had me go a long way and wait a lot of time for no answer. But my boss knew an old mechanic and he dropped my car off at his old friends garage. This was an actual garage full of mechanized items in varying states of disassembly. Two days later he called my boss and told him there was a loose nut that shorted the car out until it was shaken somehow relieving the short. He tightened the nut and could not get the response again.
John, I've heard a zillion stories about thieves reading the fob signal and stealing the car, but as far as Corvettes go, they've all been debunked to my knowledge. It isn't really possible in them, although it may be in other cars. AFAIK, the only way to steal a late model Corvette is with a flatbed. As I recall, the Vette fob does not transmit anything UNLESS it gets a signal from the car first. If I press the door pad on the outside to open the locked door, a signal goes from the car to the fob, two or three feet surrounding most of the car, sees the fob in my pocket and reads it, knows it's the right one, and so it tells the door to open for me -- all at the speed of light, of course. Same for starting it. At least this is what I remember. Another interesting thing is that if I grab the fob when I leave home and put it in my pocket, I can go anywhere and park, lock the doors, open the hatch when I get back, open the locked door, start the car and leave without ever touching the fob. I only take it out of my pocket when I get home. The upside to this is that if I never (or rarely) use the fob buttons then the fob battery lasts for years. If people use the buttons all the time then the battery will go dead quicker. It's all very convenient, but who needs a finicky, sensitive keyless system? Having said all that, I'd still rather have a metal key. As you being another "old guy," I'm sure you remember having keys that were ridiculously and obviously worn, but they still worked. Ha @ leaving your car running. I did the same thing a few years ago with the Vette. Went to the local diner and stayed for probably two hours or close to it (it's a social thing). My car has the stock exhaust, so you can't really hear it idling if you're not listening for it. I came out to get in my car, and I don't remember if I pushed the "Start" button or not, but I realized it was already running and had sat there idling for a couple of hours. I never thought about it but you're right -- it's because the ol' habit of turning the key to shut it off isn't there with a keyless ignition.
I had a 1959 Austin Healey Sprite Mark I (see my avatar.) My ex had a 1962 Austin Healey Sprite Mark II. Her car hated me. It would crap out in the worse weather. Now, I can turn wrenches but I ain't no mechanic. This one time in the middle of February the thing would not idle down...RPMs were at a constant 1,500. I worked on it in the evenings after work...in the dark...in the cold. I disconnected the throttle linkage and tried a whole bunch of other stuff, to no avail. These cars have dual side draft carbs, so the intake manifold is mounted on the side of the block and not on top. One cold dark night I got so angry that I grabbed the carbs and shook the heck out of it. When I pulled them towards me, the engine revved up. When I pushed them away from me, the engine idled down to normal. Hmmmm.... It seems that the top bolts on the intake manifold had come loose and there was a vacuum leak. I tightened the bolts, hooked the linkage back up, went inside, and told her I fixed it. I shoulda been a chiropractor.
Mary, what I learned since my car died three times last year: Removing the battery ground cable for 5 to maybe 30 minutes would have reset my computer systems and it likely would have started. I knew previously that it would reset most(?) systems but never thought about it when I was stranded. I have since kept a 10mm box end wrench in the car to loosen the battery nut if need be. Of course that's not "fixing" anything -- it's just a work-around, a better option than calling a tow truck and all the complications (and money) that that brings. And speaking of work-arounds, which I hate, that's about all we ever get any more. How about DIAGNOSING, and FIXING, the actual problem? But as I noted earlier, technology moves faster than our ability to diagnose and fix it.
I was lucky to still be under warranty. Long story. I think this is my last car (and truck) so if anything big goes wrong, I will just plant geraniums in them or have them drug away by their hind legs. I have duct tape and a butter knife in my tool box.
My car is the same way, but even that creates issues. The automatic door lock works like this: -The last door is shut (no doors are left open.) -The car looks to see if the FOB is within range (a very short distance, for security purposes.) -If the FOB is within range, the auto-lock feature is enabled. -Then when the FOB goes out of range, the doors are automatically locked and the alarm is set. The hatch is on the "Are all the doors shut so I can enable auto-lock" system. Recall that the hatch has a motor...I do not slam it shut. So I get my groceries out of the back, push the Close button, then walk to my house. I'm pretty far away by the time the hatch slowly closes, so the auto-lock feature does not enable. It took me a while to understand why I would come out to my car and it was not locked. I've also noticed that the auto-lock feature does not always work when I exit my car in parking lots. If I get out of my car and quickly walk away as I shut the door, my body shields the signal from the FOB (that's in my pocket) by the time the door closes, so the auto-lock feature does not enable. I can tell because my car beeps once when the feature is enabled, then it beeps twice when I get out of range and the doors lock. So when it doesn't beep, it ain't locked. They can't make the FOB signal too strong or someone could unlock the door without our knowing when we're halfway up the parking lot towards the store. Regarding thieves and reading FOB signals...a quick internet search seems to confirm that it can/does happen, but thieves are mostly stealing cars the old fashioned way: break & enter, then hot-wire. I've often wondered why they don't do the FOB-rob in parking lots: follow a nice car, wait for you to park it, grab the FOB signal as you walk by, then steal the car knowing that it won't get reported until you finish shopping and then wander around for a while wondering where you parked it. If they do when you arrive at work in the morning, you may not even notice until you leave in the afternoon. Maybe too many security cameras, huh?
On this Ranger, at least... The automatic lock/unlock with the FOB doesn't work right, if you happen to not get the door fully latched. [ I'm still not used to knowing how much to slam the door to latch it fully. ] The door still locks itself. But when you get back it won't unlock. Twice I've had to open the passenger door and crawl across. First time I didn't know how to get the "key" out of that FOB thing. Second time, it wasn't worth trying.
That's interesting that the door is "closed enough" for the system to arm but not for the door to respond to an Unlock signal. I wonder if the door is hard to close because your truck is so air-tight. My 2005 GMC actually has one-way air vents at the back of the cab for this reason...I can see them flop when I close the rear doors. You could crack a window (or leave another door open) and see if that makes closing the driver's door easier. If that's not the problem, add it to the list of things for the dealer to look at. If that is the problem, talk to them about it, anyway. Maybe they'll have ideas. You cannot permanently leave a window cracked.