Car keys the size of a credit card from Continental
Typically, the pocket of an out-and-about gentleman will contain the following items – wallet, a bunch of keys, and one or more mobile devices. Depending on individual, the assortment of keys will usually include those for his house and car. Women have all these items too, and more, but they tend to kept in their handbags rather than pockets.
Either way, your average person on the street carry quite a few of these important items with them, and for some, it can feel cumbersome at times. Indeed, these days, we are starting to whine when test cars come our way without keyless smart access. “What do you mean I have to unlock this car with the remote?”
Yes, we have gotten to the point where we are too lazy to dig our pockets for the car keys, but having reviewed a number of cars with this feature, we realized that it is genuinely useful in some occasions, such as when you have a handful of groceries to carry. The increasing number of reported attacks in shopping mall parking lots these days has also inadvertently made keyless access a useful safety feature – no need to stand there and fumble through your handbags for the key, just get in the car, thumb the start button, and drive off.
What’s next, you may ask, is in store in the area of car key development then? Well, one is to make it even more compact and less cumbersome to carry around, and right on cue comes Continental with its new key card, which is 3.4mm thin and no bigger than your average credit card. It fits right into your wallet, so you have one item less to carry with you at all times – less of a chance leaving it on the restaurant table to be sure.
“For motorists, car keys are something you always take with you. We wanted to produce a key that is not just technically impressive, but also looks and feels good. With our new, thinnest key card we have shown that Continental is firmly committed to the trend toward slimline design. Nonetheless, the key card offers state-of-the-art comfort functions and is highly robust,” adds Andreas Wolf, Head of the Continental Body & Security Business Unit.
To enable the new key card to fit the required dimensions and still house advanced functions like Passive Start and Entry (PASE), Continental has employed the use of Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) technology to manufacture the key card’s outer housing. Instead using of thermoplastics like existing keys which require a minimum material thickness of 6mm, the RTM method utilizes a special epoxy compound that can be precision moulded and deliver the required durability at 2mm material thickness.
Current applications of the card allows Continental to integrate functions such as keyless access, with room for future advancements already built into the design. Consumers can look forward to innovations such as vehicle status display on the card itself and the integration of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology – the stuff that makes Touch ‘n Go possible.
KON
Pictures: Official Continental release.
