NHTSA Complaint #10542876 — 2012 ACURA TL

KEYLESS START (PUSH BUTTON) AND PROBLEM OCCURRED WHEN NO WARNING THAT KEY FOB WAS NOT IN VICINITY OF CAR AFTER CAR WAS STARTED AND DRIVEN 2 HOURS AWAY. MY DAUGHTER HANDED ME HER KEYS TO THE ACURA TL (INCL KEY FOB) THROUGH THE DRIVERS SIDE WINDOW AFTER THE CAR HAD BEEN STARTED SO I COULD GET SOME ITEMS OUT OF OUR OTHER CAR BEFORE SHE LEFT TO RETURN TO HER HOME 5 HOURS AWAY. I RETRIEVED HER ITEMS BUT FORGOT TO GIVE HER THE KEY FOB BACK AS THE CAR WAS RUNNING AND NO WARNING INDICATORS WERE GIVEN (AUDIO OR VISUAL) THAT THE KEY FOB WAS NOT IN THE VICINITY OF THE CAR. SHE HEADED OFF AND STOPPED 2 HOURS LATER FOR GAS ONLY TO FIND THE CAR WOULD NOT RESTART - DUE TO THE MISSING KEY FOB. AFTER EXPERIMENTATION AND READING THE OWNERS MANUAL I FOUND THAT ONLY WHEN THE DOOR IS OPENED AND THE FOB IS REMOVED FROM THE VEHICLE WILL A NOTICE AND ALARM BE GIVEN. IF PASSED THROUGH AN OPEN WINDOW (AS WE DID) NO WARNING OF ANY KIND IS GIVEN AND THE DRIVER CAN DRIVE OFF AS IF EVERYTHING IS FINE. THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT FLAW IN THE REMOTE FOB SYSTEM AND CAUSED MYSELF AND MY DAUGHTER SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF STRESS AND TIME TO DRIVE TO HER LOCATION TO DELIVER THE FOB NEEDED TO RESTART THE CAR. ACURA CLAIMS NO PROBLEMS FROM THEIR SIDE BUT I BELIEVE THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT ISSUE WITH THE SYSTEM THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED. IT MAY BE MORE THAN JUST ACURAS THAT HAVE THIS PROBLEM. *TR