[jammit]

Sorry if this is already covered somewhere:
I gave my wife her own key, which she keeps in her handbag. When we are both in the car, and I'm driving - how do I set-up so my key is the preferred/detected key?

Do I need to set-up my wife's key with the same profile as my key?

Also everytime she goes into the garage to get to her own car, my car wakes up with comfort access etc.

How should her second key be set-up to fix these problems?

[eagle_bmw]

For your car waking up scenario you can check this thread.

https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=24988491

Not sure about the key priority as I had to restart/clearing everything when I had my ConnectedDrive issue and I have yet to setups wife's key.

[natahoa]

My husband never drives my car, so I’ve never used the second key. I think each key needs to be programmed to the specific driver, but you should be able to unprogram the key, set up the seat the way your wife likes it, and just set that as the second driver seat settings.

I’ll try getting in my car with both keys in hand and see what happens with a second unprogrammed key.

On a similar note - I activated my key card via iDrive, and now I’m somewhat afraid to leave it in the car. Which kind of defeats the purpose of having it. I know you can “turn it off” in the settings, leave it in the car, and activate it when you want to use it.

My question is: is it safe to leave the key card in the car all of the time?

If someone was able to break into the car, I know they would be able to start it because the key card is there, but would the car react to someone breaking into the car by disabling the key card or ignition?

[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by natahoa

My husband never drives my car, so I've never used the second key. I think each key needs to be programmed to the specific driver, but you should be able to unprogram the key, set up the seat the way your wife likes it, and just set that as the second driver seat settings.

I'll try getting in my car with both keys in hand and see what happens with a second unprogrammed key.

On a similar note - I activated my key card via iDrive, and now I'm somewhat afraid to leave it in the car. Which kind of defeats the purpose of having it. I know you can "turn it off" in the settings, leave it in the car, and activate it when you want to use it.

My question is: is it safe to leave the key card in the car all of the time?

If someone was able to break into the car, I know they would be able to start it because the key card is there, but would the car react to someone breaking into the car by disabling the key card or ignition?

Couple of notes:

(1) Be attentive to your test. The car will likely react differently to a) driver having both fobs positioned in the driver seat area, vs b) one fob positioned in the driver seat area and another elsewhere in the car.

(2) I don't understand your intended use case for the key card? I think you were visualizing leaving a deactivated card inside the car for convenience of activating it at some point when you leave the car and take it with you, correct? But what use is that — you will have already by definition had your fob with you at such activation time and you certainly cannot leave the fob in the car while taking the now-activated key card. In any case a) pretty sure BMW intended the key card to be just another "normal" key that happens to fit in your wallet and is somewhat waterproof, and b) until you've tested every single permutation of your theory of use (from the point of view of a thief or a joyrider), DO NOT LEAVE YOUR KEY CARD INSIDE THE CAR!

[eagle_bmw]

Originally Posted by natahoa

My husband never drives my car, so I've never used the second key. I think each key needs to be programmed to the specific driver, but you should be able to unprogram the key, set up the seat the way your wife likes it, and just set that as the second driver seat settings.

I'll try getting in my car with both keys in hand and see what happens with a second unprogrammed key.

On a similar note - I activated my key card via iDrive, and now I'm somewhat afraid to leave it in the car. Which kind of defeats the purpose of having it. I know you can "turn it off" in the settings, leave it in the car, and activate it when you want to use it.

My question is: is it safe to leave the key card in the car all of the time?

If someone was able to break into the car, I know they would be able to start it because the key card is there, but would the car react to someone breaking into the car by disabling the key card or ignition?

You'd need to setup valley parking with a passcode in order to prevent the perpetrators to activate the key card. Still, I will NOT leave mine in the car. It is pretty small and fits my wallet.

[eagle_bmw]

Originally Posted by LexxM3

Couple of notes:

(1) Be attentive to your test. The car will likely react differently to a) driver having both fobs positioned in the driver seat area, vs b) one fob positioned in the driver seat area and another elsewhere in the car.

(2) I don't understand your intended use case for the key card? I think you were visualizing leaving a deactivated card inside the car for convenience of activating it at some point when you leave the car and take it with you, correct? But what use is that — you will have already by definition had your fob with you at such activation time and you certainly cannot leave the fob in the car while taking the now-activated key card. In any case a) pretty sure BMW intended the key card to be just another "normal" key that happens to fit in your wallet and is somewhat waterproof, and b) until you've tested every single permutation of your theory of use, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR KEY CARD INSIDE THE CAR!

I had intermittent issue with my key card and couldn't get in. I didn't have my fob with me and thought I was screwed, then thought of using my CD unlock feature. Still it would be inconvenient to re activate the key card every time.

[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by eagle_bmw

I had intermittent issue with my key card and couldn't get in. I didn't have my fob with me and thought I was screwed, then thought of using my CD unlock feature. Still it would be inconvenient to re activate the key card every time.

Hm, so the theory would be that with just CD app and inactivated keycard inside the car (no fobs in sight), you would open your car through CD, access iDrive without a fob, find your inactive key card hidden inside the car, activate it using iDrive, and merrily drive away?

Interesting, if obscure, use case and while I haven't tested that, if I was a BMW engineer, I would absolutely make sure that this could not be done as it is a significant security issue. It would allow anyone (not just you), with an inactive key card to activate that card in an otherwise unlocked car, bad idea.

PS: I strongly believe BMW issued key cards are bound to your specific car. You cannot order one without a VIN and the delivered card will only work in that specific VIN car, this I've tested (key card hobby project with the dealer). So another security layer there.

[eagle_bmw]

Originally Posted by LexxM3

Hm, so the theory would be that with just CD app and inactivated keycard inside the car (no fobs in sight), you would open your car through CD, access iDrive without a fob, find your inactive key card hidden inside the car, activate it using iDrive, and merrily drive away?

Interesting, if obscure, use case and while I haven't tested that, if I was a BMW engineer, I would absolutely make sure that this could not be done as it is a significant security issue. It would allow anyone (not just you), with an inactive key card to activate that card in an otherwise unlocked car, bad idea.

PS: I strongly believe BMW issued key cards are bound to your specific car. You cannot order one without a VIN and the delivered card will only work in that specific VIN car, this I've tested (key card hobby project with the dealer). So another security stage.

Natahoa's use case is valid but poses security risk. That's why I suggested enabling valet parking as a safeguard to reactivating the card. The inconvenience that you listed is the reason why I won't do it.

[natahoa]

Originally Posted by LexxM3

Couple of notes:

(1) Be attentive to your test. The car will likely react differently to a) driver having both fobs positioned in the driver seat area, vs b) one fob positioned in the driver seat area and another elsewhere in the car.

(2) I don't understand your intended use case for the key card? I think you were visualizing leaving a deactivated card inside the car for convenience of activating it at some point when you leave the car and take it with you, correct? But what use is that — you will have already by definition had your fob with you at such activation time and you certainly cannot leave the fob in the car while taking the now-activated key card. In any case a) pretty sure BMW intended the key card to be just another "normal" key that happens to fit in your wallet and is somewhat waterproof, and b) until you've tested every single permutation of your theory of use (from the point of view of a thief or a joyrider), DO NOT LEAVE YOUR KEY CARD INSIDE THE CAR!

Got it, thanks!
I leave my wallet in my car too. I just use Apple Pay for everything so I only carry my phone into stores.

[natahoa]

Originally Posted by LexxM3

Hm, so the theory would be that with just CD app and inactivated keycard inside the car (no fobs in sight), you would open your car through CD, access iDrive without a fob, find your inactive key card hidden inside the car, activate it using iDrive, and merrily drive away.

PS: I strongly believe BMW issued key cards are bound to your specific car. You cannot order one without a VIN and the delivered card will only work in that specific VIN car, this I've tested (key card hobby project with the dealer). So another security layer there.

Yes, it is activated at the dealer, but then you also have to activate it via iDrive. And you can inactivate it. It’s nearly invisible on its tray, so a thief would have to know to look for it.

I’m going to start a new thread - interested to hear any stories about cars being broken into or stolen. That should give me some perspective.

Thanks so much!

[nosnoop]

Originally Posted by jammit

Sorry if this is already covered somewhere:
I gave my wife her own key, which she keeps in her handbag. When we are both in the car, and I'm driving - how do I set-up so my key is the preferred/detected key?
Do I need to set-up my wife's key with the same profile as my key?

Both of you should have your own profile, and each profile should be associated with your own key.

And if both of you are in the same car, then just choose the correct profile when you get into the car. I don't think there is a way to set one key as the "preferred" key.

Also everytime she goes into the garage to get to her own car, my car wakes up with comfort access etc.

Under comfort access settings, you can change this behaviour - whether the car would turn on, or whether the car would unlock when you approach.

[jammit]

no snoop - thanks for your response to my original post.
There is another problem so far as I can see - the car chooses one of the two keys and then displays the associated profile for that key.
The way the car chooses which key is somewhat random depending on who approaches the car first.
Once one key is selected by the car, I'm not aware of a way to get the car to switch keys or select an alternate profile?

Maybe I'm missing something here - but isn't this a common problem for others as well ie: main driver and partner get in the car together, both carrying a key??

[eagle_bmw]

Originally Posted by jammit

no snoop - thanks for your response to my original post.
There is another problem so far as I can see - the car chooses one of the two keys and then displays the associated profile for that key.
The way the car chooses which key is somewhat random depending on who approaches the car first.
Once one key is selected by the car, I'm not aware of a way to get the car to switch keys or select an alternate profile?

Maybe I'm missing something here - but isn't this a common problem for others as well ie: main driver and partner get in the car together, both carrying a key??

Below snapshot of the manual is maybe what you are observing. As previously mentioned you would need to select the desired driver profile.

[jammit]

Thanks eagle_bmw - yes thats the section of the manual that makes clear the choice of key is largely random and therefore the profile which appears.

I'm surprised this use case is not more common. The only way around this I can see, is to set-up both keys with the same profile (mine) and make the guest profile my wife's. The guest profile is tied to the car, not the key. Anyone have any better solution??

[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by jammit

Anyone have any better solution??

Have your wife carry and rely on the key card rather than the fob key?

[StrykerRan]

What about buying a little signal blocking pouch for the unused key that is carried.

https://www.amazon.com/Enjoyee-Block...a-589534549899