Can you still stop a car by turning off the ignition

May 06, 2025 Last reply: 3 months ago 78 Replies

Can you still stop a car by turning off the ignition



WIWAL if you were a passenger in a car and didn't like where your kidnapper was taking you, you could turn the key off and throw the keys out the window, or on the floor of the back seat, and the car would stop.


50 years later, I think that was still true.

Now some cars (or is it all of them?????) don't have a key, and if you have some device in your pocket you can start the car by pressing a start button. But say you're being kidnapped, can you stop the engine while the car is moving by pressing the Stop button?



And if so can the driver just press it a second time to restart the engine.


Don't you know? Doesn't your car have a Stop button?

Perform these actions in your car at low speed, and you'll know.

Turning off the ignition will also inactivate the power steering and braking except for the parking brake. If the vehicle is on a highway at fairly high speed, the risk of safely stopping the car on the shoulder may be greater than waiting until the car is moving slowly or stopped in local traffic where you can get out without being hit by a passing car or being seriously injured in a collision. I think the best thing to do will be extremely situational.

No.

Why do you assume I have a car like that?

My car is from 2005 and it uses a key, like God intended.

BTW, remember years ago when I complained that they didn't see Raisin Grape Nuts anymore and I couldn't mix raisins with my Grape Nuts because the raisins stuck together. Well I tried it with "golden raisins", also by Sunkist, instead of 'standard' raisins, and so far they don't stick together, so it works well. Several boxes of raisins but only one box of Grape Nuts so far. Unfortunately the Grape Nuts were a lot harder, even after soaking in milk, than I remembered. Too hard, but I assume they were stale and I will buy another box soon.

I thought modern cars mostly have electric power steering < ? >

- would that be affected by Micky's scenario ? one wonders .. Also - a passenger would need to wait for the car to be stopped in order to affect it by pressing the Stop button, methinks. John T.

Every box of raisins is a tragic tale of grapes that could have been wine.

John T.

You do have to depress the brake pedal. If you were doing 60, it may be enough to press and go but just reduce speed for the few seconds. You also have to switch to Neutral.

Do it when driving over a bridge and throw the key fob into the river

- then the car can not be re-started.

hold the button for about 5 seconds and the engine will shut off - at any speed.

Steering yes but pPower brakes that were vacuum-powered were I believe required to have some braking power even after the engine was turned off, 3 or 4 presses of the pedal before the stored vacuum was used up. If not required by law, they still all had it. If some brakes are now electrically assisted, they would be even easier to keep functional when the "engine" is off. Surely they didnt' relax that.

That's what I was thinking might be the case.

Or something like that.

I had a car, I think an '88 LeBaron where everything leaked, including the power steering, and sometimes it got so low I had no power. It was hard at very low speeds but anything higher than 10 or 20, I could still steer fairly normally.

I've lately been hooked temporarily on police chase videos, one or two of which had a kidnapped girl in the car, along with others had friends who may not have expected their driver to run from the police, and while it's dangerous to turn off the engine while driving, it's also dangerous to drive at 100, 120 mph, which happens pretty often. And ends often with the car crashing or the police in some states hitting the car to make it crash. When I'm kidnapped, I hope it's a car with a key so I can turn off the ignition .

My 2004 sienna with stop me 2 times before the power braking goes away. Or, 2 significant presses. How long you hold a given pressure does not affect that. Once I reach a given braking pedal position, it will have the same braking as long as I hold that same position.

So, you need a patient kidnapper!

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Over here, removing the key activates a mechanical lock on the steering wheel. Very dangerous while driving.

On a car with a carburettor, the vacuum that powered the brakes was taken from the carburettor (with the accel valve in closed position). So brakes remain working, if the motor is not disengaged.

Power steering can be hydraulic; if the motor is engaged, it has power.

At least this side of the pond :-)

Most of the other old farts do, unless they have a pickup truck.

I recently got rid of my 2004 Highlander and 2009 FJ Cruiser and am now styling in a 2022 Honda CR-V.

I'll tell you for free. At least in my car, the brake pedal must be fully engaged to either stop or start the engine.

Not every grape is worthy of being made into wine.

I can turn my car off if it's in Drive (and if the brake pedal is fully depressed). It whines at me to put it in Park, but it still shuts off the engine. I'm not going to experiment with trying to shut off the engine doing 60. I've only had the thing for about a month.

Good to know. I have a premonition that I'm going to be kidnapped. I don't know if it is for ransom or immoral purposes.

Good point. I need a way to distract him during those extra 4 seconds. Maybe if I point to something outside the driver's side window.

I knew I left out an intermediate stage. For a decade or two or more, the ignition key went into the steering column, and did what you say.

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