Your Car’s Key Fob Has Hidden Features. Here’s How to Find Them.

Here are a few examples of common hidden key-fob features, some of which may be on your car’s device.

Lower All Windows Instantly: One of the more common hidden functions on many of today’s key fobs is the ability to roll down all the windows and open the sunroof at the same time by pressing a single button—more than once. It’s handy and helps cool off the car on a hot summer day. It’s not often labeled on the fob, though, so the owner needs to know the button sequence.

On most cars that have the feature, it’s accomplished by pressing the unlock button on the key fob once, then pressing it again (within 10 seconds) and holding it down until all the windows are opened. 

Remote Start: On most key fobs, the remote start button is labeled with a circular arrow (often without the words “remote start”). Typically, the owner presses the lock button first, then the remote-start button. On other remotes, drivers must press the circular arrow button twice (indicated by a “2x” or “x2”).

But on some newer BMWs, the optional remote-start function is completely hidden. Owners can fire up the engine on BMW’s internal-combustion-powered cars by pressing the lock button on the key fob three times within 1 second. 

Some Toyotas, such as the Crown Signia we tested, no longer have a dedicated key-fob button for remote start. On these cars, the driver activates remote start by pressing the lock button three times, holding the button down on the third press until the engine fires up. 

Mirror Folding: Some cars automatically fold in the side mirrors as part of the door-locking process. With others, this feature is optional, and the owner needs to know how to use it.

For example, on newer Chevrolet and GMC pickups equipped with remote mirror folding, the owner holds the key-fob lock button for a full second to make the mirrors fold in. This is a handy feature when parking on city streets or in a narrow alley, given how large pickup-truck side mirrors are.

Automated Parking: Some cars can back into and out of parking spaces for you using designated “forward” and “backward” buttons on the key fob, which can be extremely helpful if it’s a tight squeeze. These buttons aren’t always the most obvious, however. Hyundai’s Remote Smart Parking Assist system gets a pair of dedicated buttons on the side of its newer key fobs, whereas Teslas that have the company’s miniature-car-shaped key rely entirely on pressing unlabeled parts of the “car” to use its Summon feature. 

You can enable the system from inside the car to pull into a tight parking space, either through an onscreen menu option or using a designated button on the dashboard or center console. Then you can leave the car and use the forward or reverse buttons on the key to move the car into the spot. 

If you want to extract your car from a tight spot, follow your car’s designated sequence of button presses on the key fob to enable the automated parking feature from outside, which can feel a bit like typing in a secret cheat code on a video game. For example, on the 2026 Hyundai Palisade we tested, pressing the lock button and then holding down the remote start button allows you to use the buttons on the side of the key fob to pull out of the space. 

On Tesla’s car-shaped key fobs, you press the mini-Tesla’s “roof” to turn the feature on, press on the hood or the trunk of the key-fob car to move forward or backward, and then press the roof again when you’d like the car to stop. 

Proximity Lock and Unlock: Vehicles with this feature automatically unlock the car when it detects the key fob nearby, and some also lock it when you take the key farther away. Many cars, such as the Nissan Sentra we tested, let you disable this feature through the vehicle’s settings menu.

Mechanical Key: Owners of cars with push-button start systems might not realize there’s a mechanical key inside the key fob. This lets owners unlock the driver’s door when the car’s battery or the key fob’s battery runs out of juice, or the fob malfunctions. The key is typically accessed by pushing a button on the key fob and pulling the key out, though on some remotes, the release isn’t obvious.

Some cars have an obvious key slot on the door handle; on others, it’s hidden behind the door handle and only visible when you pull the door handle out. Some cars hide the key slot under a plastic cap next to the door handle.

Start the Car Even If the Key-Fob Battery Dies: Drivers with dead key-fob batteries may not need to look for a hidden key slot to start the car once they’re inside. Some cars can detect the key anyway, typically using near field communication (NFC) if the key is pressed against the start button or in another designated spot in the car’s interior, such as on the steering column or center console. 

The presence of hidden buttons and functions means owners need to be aware of them to avoid problems.

For example, while it’s cool to be able to lower all the windows via the key fob, it’s not funny when this happens accidentally—especially during a rainstorm or when a car is covered in snow. This can happen if the key fob is accidentally activated while at the bottom of a purse or sitting in a pants pocket.

This happened to a Consumer Reports auto editor who walked out to our Honda Accord test car one morning and found all the windows down and the sunroof wide open. Fortunately, it had been a dry night, and nothing had been stolen from the car.

Chris Naughton, a Honda spokesperson, told us that “unintentional activation is very uncommon, but would be equally possible with other functions, like remote start or the panic alarm.”

When you get a new car, read the specific sections of the owner’s manual that cover the key fob. If possible, configure the settings on your remote to lock out any features you don’t want accidentally activated.

“Personalization of some manufacturers’ key fobs is another area that many customers may not realize they have,” says Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research for Telemetry. “If there are multiple users of a vehicle in a household, each [driver] can have their own fob, and once they set things like seat and mirror positions, the car will automatically adjust those as you approach the vehicle. For homes with young drivers, this can be used to limit certain functionality, such as top speed and preventing the disabling of driver-assist features.”

Owners should also read the car’s quick reference guide, which highlights key sections from the owner’s manual. Many new cars have them. Sometimes the basic features of the key fob are covered there, and it’s usually a much shorter read than the owner’s manual.

Get to know the other options for starting, opening, and interacting with the car as well. More automakers are including NFC chips in cards that can slip into a wallet and, in electric vehicle maker Rivian’s case, on a wristband. If you really want to avoid accidentally pressing a hidden function, bringing a key card instead of the full key fob will do it. Hyundai’s luxury brand, Genesis, even lets you use biometric data to unlock and start some of its cars, provided you’re comfortable sharing your fingerprint with its services. 

If you still want access to those hidden key-fob features and more, many automakers now offer apps that allow a cell phone or smartwatch to double as a key. With the extra screen real estate of a smartphone app, it’s easier to offer additional controls that could never fit on most key fobs, along with better explanations of what each control is. 

Keyless entry systems allow owners to almost ignore their key fob when it’s in a pocket or purse. Doors automatically unlock when the driver approaches or grabs a handle, and the car starts with the push of a button. No fob interaction is needed.

But there are still times when people have to press buttons on the key fob, such as when they’re searching for their car in a crowded parking lot. Other people just simply prefer to use the key fob out of habit.

“Key fobs need to be labeled more clearly, regardless of whether they have hidden tricks or not,” Fisher says. “It’s hard to even tell the difference between ‘lock’ and ‘unlock’ on some key fobs, especially at night.”

Abuelsamid says it’s a challenge for automakers to get owners to study up on what their fobs can do, which is why functions need to be clearly labeled, regardless of whether they’re available via the key fob or the phone app.

Our testers have found that it’s hard to tell which key fob buttons do what on newer Kia and Volvo models in particular because both have a line of small, hard-to-decipher buttons placed along the side of the key fob. Tesla’s tiny carlike key fob, too, is a cute design to look at, but one that lacks any labels for functions that can open, move, and lock the car. 

When asked about Volvo’s key-fob design, a company spokesperson told us that the buttons were placed on the side “to reduce the possibility of unintended activation, such as when they’re in a pocket or purse.” But aesthetics were also a factor, they said. “There is some Scandinavian design influence to give the fob a clean and simple appearance.”

Abuelsamid admits that automakers are in a tough spot attempting to please everybody, but says “designers and engineers should worry less about the key fob doing everything and focus more on a consistent and easy user experience without any surprises.”

In the future, the point may become moot as smartphones take over these fob functions, Honda’s Naughton says.

“As the industry moves toward smartphone app-based vehicle controls such as AcuraLink, some of these functions will move into those rather than existing through the key fob,” he says. “For now, though, we cannot make it too difficult to activate the functionality, or no one will likely use it or even be able to figure it out. Automotive design is about balancing potential misuse with ease of use.”

We’re already seeing this become a reality with some automakers. Tesla moved most of its key’s functions to its smartphone app, opting to give key cards out for its newest cars instead. You can still order a tiny car-shaped key if you want one, though it will cost an additional fee.

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