A woman is going viral on TikTok after revealing that her 2020 GMC Acadia was able to drive without a key.
Sidnee (@sidneelazo) suggested that her car is a push start, meaning she can drive it by pressing a button versus using a key. Typically, to drive these types of cars, a key fob must be inside of it. But Sidnee said she was able to drive her Acadia for 20 minutes while her keys sat at home.
“There’s no freaking way,” she said after she realized her and her car’s error. As of Tuesday, her video explaining her predicament had amassed more than 16,800 views.
What happened to the driver’s GMC Acadia?
In her video, Sidnee said that she drove for 20 minutes before she realized that she didn’t have her keys.
While push-start cars aren’t meant to drive if the relevant key fob isn’t detected nearby, it can happen:
This is one of the dangers of having a keyless car: They can be driven away without the key as long as the engine is still running. (This is what Sidney said happened to her.)
Still, Sidnee expressed shock that her car didn’t display some sort of alarm. She said she expected her car to warn her that her key wasn’t nearby.
“How did the car go? Why did the car go?” she questioned.
In the end, Sidnee said that someone brought her keys—which were left at her house. She was also able to get home safely. But Sidney said she felt “crazy” after her ordeal.
“That’s got to be a hazard. GMC do you want to weigh in on this?” she asked. “Am I crazy? Is my car defective?”
The downsides to driving keyless vehicles
If a keyless car’s ignition is kept on, it can be driven without a fob as long as the engine is kept on. If the engine is turned off, however, it cannot be restarted without a key.
Sidnee certainly isn’t the first driver with a push start to notice that her car was driving smoothly without its key. In a 2023 forum for Chevy Bolt owners, another person said that they drove from their house to the gym without their key. Similar to Sidnee, the affected driver suggested that their car was able to do this because the engine was left on.
Research and anecdotal evidence both suggest that cars will keep going until the engine is shut off. In another 2022 forum, a second driver said they knew someone who drove for roughly 200 miles without their car’s fob.
So this problem doesn’t only affect GMC models. In fact, in a 2020 Quora thread, people who drove vehicles ranging from Range Rovers to Camry Hybrids to BMWs said they experienced the same issue.
@sidneelazo @GMC can you weigh in on this? lol #storytime #gmcacadia #pushtostart #gmc #fypシ #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #viralvideo ♬ original sound – Sidnee | Lifestyle | SAHM
Viewers share similar experiences
In the comments section of Sidnee’s video, several drivers said they’ve had similar issues with their cars.
“I did this once…45 miles!!!! I had a 2019 Chevy Equinox,” one woman shared. “It’s a terrible feature.”
“I did that one time but luckily only went a mile away to the gas station and I didn’t turn the car off,” another said.
“My key battery ran out while driving and I got a no key alert,” a third user added. “I was 2 hrs from home and panicked all the way home.”
Others who hadn’t experienced this were more panicked. Some even advised Sidnee to take her car to a GMC dealership.
“My mom’s car won’t run that far,” one woman said. “That’s terrible. I’d contact GMC.”
“That’s crazy! What the heck,” another wrote.
“My 2024 Tundra won’t let me go 1 mile without going crazy and letting me know what I did,” a third user added.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Sidnee via TikTok comment and to GMC through email.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
