Why is it der Autoschlüssel?

Autoschlüssel is a compound noun, and German compounds take the article of their last word: der Schlüssel. So it’s der Autoschlüssel.

Sense 1
der

Meaning

[1] Key that enables opening, closing and starting an automobile

[1] Schlüssel, der das Öffnen, Schließen und Anlassen eines Automobils ermöglicht

Examples

[1] Forget the car keys not

[1] Vergiss die Autoschlüssel nicht!

[1] "Finally, she pulls the car key out of her pocket and puts her on the table in front of Anrath as if he were the car driver"

[1] „Zuletzt zieht sie aus ihrer Hosentasche die Autoschlüssel und legt sie vor Anrath auf den Tisch, als wäre er der Wagenlenker.“
More source examples (1)

These dictionary examples can include historical and less common uses.

[1] "Leo pulls the car key from the jacket pocket"

[1] „Leo zieht den Autoschlüssel aus der Jackentasche.“

Declension

1 Singular Plural
Nominativ der Autoschlüssel die Autoschlüssel
Genitiv des Autoschlüssels der Autoschlüssel
Dativ dem Autoschlüssel den Autoschlüsseln
Akkusativ den Autoschlüssel die Autoschlüssel

Pronunciation

In context

Dictionary entries include material from Wiktionary. Wiktionary