Patent US 4,940,964

There is disclosed a motor vehicle control system having a vehicle control unit located in the motor vehicle and a hand held portable control unit, which are in two-way communication. The vehicle control unit which is located in the motor vehicle includes a receiving antenna, a receiver, a decoder and a plurality of functional control circuits, with each control circuit for a respective functional operation of the motor vehicle such as ignition, starter activation, heater, air conditioner, door locks, etc. The control unit in the motor vehicle also includes a transmitter and a scanner unit which has a like plurality of sensors for sensing the condition of the various functional operations such as the ignition, engine operation, air conditioner status, heater status, etc. The control unit transmits a radio frequency signal to the remote control unit, which indicates the condition of the sensed operations. The remote control unit has an antenna and receiver with an audio amplifier and speaker. The remote unit has a standard key pad in circuit to an encoder to produce a signal that is applied to the transmitter for transmission to the vehicle control unit. In a preferred embodiment, the motor vehicle control unit has a voice synthesizer to generate a voice signal that is transmitted to the remote control unit, and most preferably has a digital voice recorder, permitting the user to customize the unit to repeat any selected message. This is particularly of value to adapt the system for foreign language users.