so i have to drive about two hours to give a talk at a coference down in phoenix. i have to get up pretty early in the morning on saturday to get there in time. i am running a little late and i am hustling to get out.....

i get in the rl, turn the ignition, the steering wheel moves down, but the the switch wont move. i try this several times........no start.

i am starting to get pissed. a few choice curse words. i feel my pocket and sure enough, the "key" is there. i really have to get on the road or i am going to be seriously late.

i go back in the house to get my truck keys and get going..... on the kitchen counter is my RL key. I reach in my pocket and pull out a package of dental floss.....

i have no idea how i put a package of floss in my pocket, thinking it was the key fob to my RL.

i kind of feel dumb

 

hehe, hey at least you had floss in there. Gotta keep the teeth/mouth nice and clean

 

Wait until the next time it happens and you DO have the fob in your pocket.

It does happen!!

 

It's never happened to me, and based on the lack of posts in this and other RL forums it must be a rare occurence.

MikeGY are you just joking or has this actually happened to you?

Pete

 

Yup! A few days after I got the car.

Got in the car and ignition would not work. Had the fob in my hand. then went and got the other fob. Still nothing.

Called Acura, they told me turn the steering wheel from side to side. Yea right.. the steering wheel was locked. They then said they would call a tow truck to take me to the dealer. By this time is was pretty pissed. Acura guy comes back on the line and tells me to wait a few minutes while he checks with engineering. After about 10 minutes he comes back and tells me to remove the key from the fob and to pry off the plastic knob that turns the ignition, then to insert the key and try to start the car while turning the steering wheel.

Well it worked. Hasn't happened since.
Dealer says he knows nothing about it.

The turning the steering wheel has me a bit confused since rhe car was on the level in the garage with the wheels pointed directly forward.

Random event?
Hopefully.

 

It happened to me several times before we figured out a solution...the last time at a refueling stop on a hot, sweltering day in Mississippi. It took a service guy at my Louisiana dealer several minutes to finally suggest wiggling the steering wheel. The car was dead in the water and we were close to calling for a tow...the *key* wouldn't even work. BTW, moving the steering wheel when starting the car is mentioned somewhere in the manual. Now, I jiggle the steering wheel everytime I start the car and have had no problems since.

 

I had the same issue many years ago with my wife's old 1986 Accord Hatchback, and a couple of times with my Legend coupe. I know for a fact that my mother has had the same issue with her Accord sedan. There is some safety-inspired mechanism that doesn't let the cars start without the steering wheel being in the locked position and occasionally it is possible to turn off the car without the steering wheel being completely locked. So, when you try to start the car, the key (or in the case of the RL, the key knob) won't turn. Turning or "jiggling" the steering wheel to make sure it is in the locked position will remedy the situation. I haven't had it happen to me yet with my RL, but I know that it is a Honda trait that they refuse to reengineer because of the underlying safety issue that it was originally designed for.

 

I've got a feeling that most of us have done this at least once. I know I have and I didn't even have the excuse of another similar-sized object in my pocket.

"Why won't this thing start.... without a key". sigh.

 

Not had it happen to me yet in my RL, but I am regularly getting into my other car and forgetting that I actually need a key in my hand to start it

Pete

 

Yep I do that all the time My FX35 has the Intelli-Key; quit often when I drive the MDX I forget to use the key.