Patent ID: 8232870

Claim:
A vehicle control apparatus comprising: transmitting means for transmitting a code request signal to a portable machine for confirming whether the portable machine is disposed within a predetermined range at an end of a repeating predetermined transmission period in order to detect dropping of the portable machine, the transmission period being based upon calculating whether the vehicle has reached a first distance; receiving means for receiving a code signal transmitted from the portable machine receiving the code request signal; code checking means for checking a code of the code signal received by the receiving means; a transmission control portion for changing a period of transmitting the code request signal by the transmitting means in accordance with a situation of running the vehicle; and a notification control portion for making an alarming means notify a driver that the portable machine is not disposed within the predetermined range based on calculating a second distance reached in a continued state in which the code signal cannot be checked by the code checking means, the code checking means checking for the code at a plurality of intervals, each interval corresponding to a respective one of the predetermined transmission periods, and with the second distance being equal to or greater than a plurality of the first distances.