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Comment by codyogden | Hacker News Reader

> for people to stop leaving their cars heating up with the keys in them

Yes. Letting your car warm up or idling unattended with the keys inside even if you lock the doors is specifically illegal in Minneapolis. It was made illegal specifically to curb car theft opportunities.

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I wonder when they will make short skirts illegal to cut down on rapes? Same principle, IMO.

1. There is a clear causal link between leaving your keys in the ignition and having your car stolen. There is not a even a clearly established correlation between dress and rape, much less causal evidence.

2. There is an obvious difference between a law telling you not to leave your keys in an unlocked car and a law telling you how to dress.

What, exactly, is the purpose of car keys if you're going to leave them in the car?

Minnesota (especially the northern part) gets REALLY cold in the winter. People with remote starters will start their car remotely if it's been parked outside more than an hour. People without those may want go outside, start the car, then go wait inside to avoid freezing your butt off for 5 minutes while the car gets to a driveable and habitable temperature.

Yeah, but then your car might as well have a "start" button, keys aren't necessarily.

Lots of cars let you take out the keys when the ignition is in "armed" state for this reason exactly. No need to leave the keys in the ignition while you aren't there.

Some cars have keycode entry. Easy to have this attitude when you don't live in a cold climate area.

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