By Vern Parker

Motor Matters

When horseless carriages first sprang upon the scene, there were no ignition keys. Since there were no more than a handful of automobiles in most communities a century or so ago, security was not an issue. Motorists in that era simply flipped the magneto switch, retarded the spark, heartily turned the hand crank, and the car would soon start – sometimes.

Getting the engine to run at all was a victory in itself. Some cars had the crank on the side of the car but most were at the front. As more automobiles appeared on the roads, and more of the public learned how to start them, security became a concern. The solution to securing cars was an ignition key.

What really sparked demand for automobile security was Charles Kettering’s invention in 1912 of the electric starter. That meant that cars could be started and driven by anyone. The electric starter first appeared on the 1912 Cadillac and soon spread throughout the industry.

From that moment on, every automobile had to be started in a two – or more – step operation by first inserting an ignition key, then doing something else to activate the starter.

Every automaker had an idea of what constituted the best way to start the car. Some decided that pushing the clutch pedal to the floor to trip the starter button on the floor – thus activating the starter – was the way to go.

Others employed the same idea but placed the starter button under the accelerator. Sometimes this was linked with activating the automatic choke as well.

Still other manufacturers required the driver to place his right heel on the top of the accelerator pedal while pushing the starter button with his right toe. Sometimes the button was on the firewall directly above the accelerator while on other cars the button was to the right, almost above the driveshaft hump on the floor.

One manufacturer put starting matters in the driver’s right hand. The starter was activated by pulling the steering column-mounted gear shift lever toward the driver.

For more than 20 years every Ford was started by pushing the starter button on the left end of the dashboard. After half a century of experimenting with various ways of starting automobile engines, the industry, in the early 1950s, universally adopted the revolutionary one-step method of inserting the key in the ignition and simply turning the key to start the engine.

Eventually, every car could be started the same way. No more confusion among people with more than one brand of car. That’s the way starting cars remained for the next 50 years or so.

With the dawn of a new millenium came a rash of “innovations” to improve the tried and true way of starting automobile engines. Honda was first when its S2000 sports car debuted. Drivers of the flashy car could get it going by inserting the key into the ignition, turning it, and then pushing the half-dollar sized red button labeled “start.” The driver could imagine blasting off at Formula 1 racing speed.

Witnessing Honda’s success with the youth market and the two-step starting system, a couple of other auto manufacturers turned back the clock and followed suit on selected models.

On the latest high-tech BMW 7 Series, an electronic implement is inserted into a slot in the dashboard before the driver presses a starter button to activate the engine.

After the few recent retrograde efforts at making the simple one-step method of starting an engine as complicated as possible, the auto industry appears ready to actually improve the process.

Next on the automotive horizon is an electronic chip similar to the one issued by some service stations permitting quick fill-ups. Some toll roads also use the same technology to permit those with special prepaid electronic passes to whiz through toll booths without stopping.

Cadillac has an electronic “key” that the driver merely has to have on his person. As he approaches his car, the electronic signal unlocks the doors without being touched.

Once the driver is inside the car, the same electronic “key” that unlocked the door is now prepared to start the engine. All the time the “key” has remained in the driver’s pocket or purse.

While seated at the steering wheel, all the driver has to do is touch the starter button since the electronic “key” has already done its work permitting the engine to start. That system is now available on the 2004 Toyota Prius.

So, in more than a century of automobile evolution, the way to start them has changed – not always for the better, but generally more secure.