Vehicle start system has gear selector movable to change from drive conditions to start condition, spring-biased plunger, displaced by moving lever into start condition to actuate sensor switch, so ignition unit starts vehicle engine

摘要

The system (1) has a gear selector (2) movable between various drive conditions to a vehicle engine start up condition, and with a lever and return mechanism (11) to urge the lever out of the start condition. A sensor (15) switch (16) detects whether the lever is moved to the start condition and is engaged by lever movement into the Start condition. The return mechanism has a spring-biased plunger (12, 13), displaced by moving the lever into the Start condition, thereby actuating the switch. An ignition unit (21) starts the engine, upon receiving indication from the switch that the lever is moved to the start condition. The output signal must firstly be transmitted to a controller (22) which ensures that other predetermined conditions are satisfied before enabling the ignition unit. The transponder key (23) is carried by the driver and can be interrogated by the controller via an antenna (24). An additional input to the controller may be from a further sensor (25) which determines whether a foot brake or hand brake of the vehicle is in an engaged condition before allowing the vehicle to be started. An Independent claim is included for a method of starting a vehicle.