[donlibes]

Here's one with the obligatory picture of Man's Best Friend being ever so helpful:

http://www.keyless.com/KE-1600%20Main.htm

Here's a link to a step-by-step guide to installing it:

http://www.atrn.com/pdf/sbs_1000.pdf

 

[ODY_DataSeek]

Awesome - Thanks! We were actually considering a Windstar since you can get it with the keyless entry. We have this feature on our Maxima and quite frankly we can't live without it. Once you've had this conveinance there's no going back. With small kids they love to open the lock and no more locking your keys in your car (ever).

 

[donlibes]

Funny you should mention you were looking at a Windstar. Because that's the car I traded in when I bought my Ody. I had a '95 Windstar and it had the keypad. At the time I got the Windstar, I thought the keypad was silly but I came to appreciate it. Besides the reasons you mentioned, some others reasons are:

You don't have to play the hide-the-key-game and wonder if someone's watching you. Or worse, when there's no possible way to hide the key because you are surrounded by people, so you end up schlepping the stupid key with you on your weeklong business trip, during which there is no point to having your key other than worrying about not losing it.

And when your hands are full getting out of the car with packages, having a keypad makes it much easier to lock the car than having to hassle with getting the fob in/out of your pocket.

I also do a lot of running, so I'll drive to a race and just throw the key in the car. All the other runners have to take their keys with them (or convince themselves that they've all hidden their keys at the same time).

The KE model I mentioned actually has a bunch of nice features that the Windstar's keypad doesn't so now I can stop feeling like I had to sacrifice anything to get the Ody.

By the way, the manufacturer put me in touch with a couple local installers. They all say it's a laborious job (4 hours). I've only got 1 quote so far but it didn't surprise me: $200 for the parts and $175 for the labor.

 

[adam1991]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">And when your hands are full getting out of the car with packages, having a keypad makes it much easier to lock the car than having to hassle with getting the fob in/out of your pocket.</font>

1) It's not a key fob. Really. Honestly. It's just a remote transmitter.

2) Ummmm....don't you just open the door, hit the lock button down, grab your packages, then shut the door? Why do you need a keypad?

They can drill through my door when snowballs are flying in Hades.

 

[donlibes]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by adam1991:
Ummmm....don't you just open the door, hit the lock button down, grab your packages, then shut the door? Why do you need a keypad?</font>

Suppose your packages are at the rear of the car. You open the driver's side door to get out but you can't press the lock button just yet because that would lock the rear hatch. So you either have to leave the driver's door open or re-open it. The latter is not possible if your arms are busy holding packages. And the former is too risky -- wind can easily catch the door and ding it into the next car. Same analysis applies to getting packages out of the front passenger's door.

 

[Demonio71]

Boy are we getting lazy?

For all of you techno dependent gear heads, I just saw a commercial for the new Explorer and it has electric rear folding seats...yes, electric rear folding seats.

Can you make up a plausible explanation as to why anyone would need that? (I believe the button is in the front dash...so "no remote folding seats while I bring the plywood out of Home Depot..." you still have to open the front door and push the button)

For a guy that runs...I have seen old ladies that are willing to do more work than you...

sorry, but someone had to say it. I am a nice guy, just direct, really.

 

[donlibes]

Boy are we getting lazy?

For all of you techno dependent gear heads, I just saw a commercial for the new Explorer and it has electric rear folding seats...yes, electric rear folding seats.

Can you make up a plausible explanation as to why anyone would need that? (I believe the button is in the front dash...so "no remote folding seats while I bring the plywood out of Home Depot..." you still have to open the front door and push the button)

For a guy that runs...I have seen old ladies that are willing to do more work than you...

sorry, but someone had to say it. I am a nice guy, just direct, really.

Most front seats are electric. All they've done is make the rear seats be electric too. Sounds reasonable to me. I've done more than my share of seat-back wrestling and would be quite happy to have electric seats all around - particularly on some cars where the seat backs are heavy/stiff and are already connected to a massive spring of some kind to counterweight them so that they aren't totally manual.

Besides not accidentally whacking you, they're easier for kids to adjust. And because it's electric, the mechanism can always stop in a locked position unlike manual seats where you sometimes have to be careful about making sure the seat is in a locked position and not somewhere in between.

And if you're trying to use this topic to imply that keypads are just for the lazy, I'd say that your method of debate needs help.

 

[donlibes]

By the way, here's a link to my report on the keypad purchase and installation.

 

[Demonio71]

Hello,

the 2003 explorer has electric rear seats that fold down 'electrically' to make room for more cargo in the back. I don't know if the base adjustment (front slide or back slide) is adjustable. *That* would be a good feature.

And by the way, I am not debating, these are my opinions and as such are not debatable. Just like yours.

 

[Intrepid175]

Boy are we getting lazy?

For all of you techno dependent gear heads, I just saw a commercial for the new Explorer and it has electric rear folding seats...yes, electric rear folding seats.

Can you make up a plausible explanation as to why anyone would need that? (I believe the button is in the front dash...so "no remote folding seats while I bring the plywood out of Home Depot..." you still have to open the front door and push the button)

For a guy that runs...I have seen old ladies that are willing to do more work than you...

sorry, but someone had to say it. I am a nice guy, just direct, really.

Some could make a similar argument for power operated sliding doors!