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GM Key Fob Panic Button

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Bill Grumbine

Member
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252
Location
Kutztown PA
Does anyone here know how to disable the stupid panic button on a GM key fob? I have really had my fill of this stinking thing going off repeatedly for not much more than just looking at it. I would dearly love to find the engineer who designed it, set his own personal one off, and then force him to swallow it. :mad:

It is absolutely useless as far as I can tell. SWMBO has had one for 10 years now, and I have had one for nine, and all we have used them for is exercises in getting them out of our pocket or purse to turn the thing back off.

Oh yeah, her new Honda fob has a panic button that is recessed, and needs to be held in for a whole second. Why do they get it right and the wonder boys in Detroit can't? Of course, our Honda also has things printed in ENGLISH where our GM vehicles all have incomprehensible symbols. It's no wonder they are in trouble financially.

(grumble grumble grumble)
 
It's not the Panic button, it's the "where did I park my car?" button. :p

Last time I used my Panic button to find my silver SUV in a sea of silver SUVs was in the parking structure at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I knew I was in the right area of the structure, but I simply couldn't find my car. I hit the button, and off in the distance, I heard my horn beeping. But the sound got softer whatever direction I went. It finally dawned on me that "in the distance" was "overhead". I was parked on the next level up. :doh:
 
I don't have an issue with my panic button on my keys, but man do I ever have an issue with the locking system. Now this is a Ford, but the stupid thing is designed to lock all the doors automatically when you drive down the highway. I guess that is to prevent carjacking or something? I don't know, we really don't have this problem in Maine because by the time the guy gets the knife or gun out of his six layers of clothing, takes off his gloves and tries to wield the thing with frozen fingers, the driver has already determined there is no one at the four way stop, (few stop lights here) makes their turn and has moved on.

So instead of protecting me, it puts my child at risk. That is because when you stop the car, it automatically unlocks the drivers door. The rest of the car stays locked. That is one huge pain because every time you go to take the baby out of her car seat in the back, you have to fumble with your keys to unlock the door to get her. :doh:
 
The other thing about this car that drives me nuts is the windshield wipers. Now we have had more winter storms this year then in the past three years combined. That means there is a lot of slush, road grime,salt and sand on the roads, so I have been using my fair share of windshield washer fluid. Here is the kicker.

The car is designed so that it makes three or four wiper movements when the spray is used. But here is the absolutely insane thing. 5 seconds later it makes another single swipe of the wipers. So what happens is, just as you get the windshield clear of grime,the wiper make an extra pass and swipe all that grime back over the window. The only option is to hit the spray again...which clears it...until that extra swipe starts 5 seconds later. You go down the road playing this try-to-get-the-windshield clear game...something you really don't want to do when its 20 below and blowing twenty!!

If I ever get to see the engineer that decided we needed this extra swipe of the wipers, he's going to be walking funny with a windshield wiper blade uniquely positioned:eek:
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
It's not the Panic button, it's the "where did I park my car?" button. :p
Click to expand...

To me it is still a panic button !

I always get that little panic feeling when I forget where my car
is parked or is not where I thought I parked it.

Did someone steal it?
Have I gone senile and will be walking around for days trying to find it?
What if I don't find it, will I starve, will I ever see the family again?
Will I have to call the wife too come down and pick me up because
I lost the car?? ....ooh.... she would love that! :rofl:

The hard part is trying to have that "not lost look" so other people will
know I'm too dumb to remember where I parked it.
 
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Dave Trask said:
...I always get that little panic feeling when I forget where my car is parked or is not where I thought I parked it...
Click to expand...
I know that feeling, Dave. Same thoughts go through my mind. I once spent about 2 hours looking through one of the big public parking lots at LAX looking for my car (at about 2:00 AM). Finally one of the shuttle drivers picked me up and we went row by row until it showed up. I had parked half asleep very early in the morning about a week prior, and didn't write down my location. :doh:By the time I returned, I was lucky to have remembered what lot I was parked in.

Travis, can you just hit the "Unlock" button on the driver's door to unlock the passenger doors as you're getting out of the car? :huh:
 
Yeah, you can unlock the doors after they autolock. You can also turn off the autolock feature if you can figure out the instructions. I couldn't. :huh:
 
Bill Grumbine said:
Does anyone here know how to disable the stupid panic button on a GM key fob?
Click to expand...

Take it apart. The printed circuit board should fall out of the housing half that it sits into. Put a piece of tape across the panic button contacts on the PCB so that the button can't make contact across them. Snap it back together.

cheers
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
It's not the Panic button, it's the "where did I park my car?" button. :p
Click to expand...

Good story, Vaughn. When I'm in those situations I just repeatedly click the "lock" button, and look around for the blinking lights and chirping sound from my van.

Can't say I've ever been on the wrong level of a parking garage before, though. For me it's usually I'm just a few rows over at the BORG parking lot.

Travis Johnson said:
I don't have an issue with my panic button on my keys, but man do I ever have an issue with the locking system. Now this is a Ford, but the stupid thing is designed to lock all the doors automatically when you drive down the highway.
Click to expand...

Travis, in my Toyota, ALL the doors lock when we put it in Drive, and they don't unlock until you put it in park. This does sometimes become irritating when I try to pick up my wife at a drop-off point, but it's no big deal. You can still hit the unlock button for that door.

And I would also expect that to be programmable, as others have mentioned.

...art

ETA: But I think the most irritating thing about panic buttons is HOW TO TURN THEM OFF is NOT standard across all the brands. On our Toyota, you just hit the lock or unlock button (or hit the panic button again) and it turns off. But a few months ago my wife was getting something out of a friends car and accidentaly hit the panic button. She tried EVERYTHING to get it to shut off with no success. IIRC the solution was when the owner showed up, got in the van, and TURNED IT ON. How nuts is that? (I believe that this was a Honda van.)
 
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I appreciate all the comments and responses, even the stories! Vaughn, I don't think I have ever been off by an entire floor, although it came close in DC.

I thought about CA glue, but my very first thought after that was the way things go around here, I would test it and it would stick in the ON position. I am glad to see I am not the only one who thinks like that.

I think I am going to disassemble it and see if I can disconnect the contacts with tape or something. I came close to disassembling it with the hammer the other day, but that would have only made me feel better for a little while.

Bill
 
We got "one" of those things with our Toyota Van when we bought it new, one button unlocks everything, the other does the horn and lights flash thing.

My wife found out that if we lose it, it costs about $75 for a new one, so the special key is locked up safe and sound in the key box in the house :D

Not only that, if you lose one of these and someone finds it, they can just walk around pressing the button, when a car starts honking and flashing it's lights, they know which one to steal....... :doh:

Plain old key is just fine by me! :D :wave:
 
If worse comes to worst, you can always slip the remote off the ring, throw it in a drawer, and just use the key. Sometimes in this world of fancy schmancy gizmos we forget that the key will actually work to lock and unlock the door.
 
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