"JCAlan" (jcalan)
09/09/2016 at 13:49 • Filed to: None
5
15|
"JCAlan" (jcalan)
09/09/2016 at 13:49 • Filed to: None | 5
| 15 |
I’m sure many people have wondered what happens when the battery in their fob for their car goes dead and they don’t even have a traditional ignition or a way to enter the car without it. Well each car is going to be different, so I recommend reading your owner’s manual for information on what to do right now, before your battery dies and it becomes an emergency. Seriously. Go do it now. Then come back when you’re done and read my terrible tale of the time that I got stranded because I was an idiot.
There is one universal truth that applies to any car when it comes to how to deal with a dead fob battery. Yes, one action that you can take to prevent catastrophe. A singular move that will help you live a happy, trouble-free automobile/fob communication existence: change your battery at the first sign of it dying. Your car will give you some kind of warning, HEED THAT WARNING. Your car may actually warn you on the dash with a real clear message such as “Low Battery in Fob,” or “Change Your Fob Battery, Idiot.” Or it may just start to lose range or otherwise act funny. Either way, be proactive and just change your dang battery already when it happens.
In my case, the first indication my battery was dying was I would go to start the car, and I would get the message “Fob Not Detected.” I would look down, see the fob, wonder what was going on, and try again. Then the car would start. Now this was my first opportunity to address the issue. I should have changed the battery right then. What I did instead was.....nothing.
As time went on, the old trying-it-again trick no longer worked. The ignition wasn’t detecting the fob anymore at all. Now what I should have done right here was immediately go get the spare key, and toss the dying key in my bag to take to my job at the auto dealership where they stock these batteries and where it would be super convenient for me to replace it. What I did instead to avoid a simple trip back into the house was pop out the start button, and stick the weird Chrysler Fobik key directly into the ignition. Which worked. And strangely, the remote still had enough juice to lock/unlock the doors. So problem solved, right? No idiot, change your fob battery.
This setup worked fine until I was running errands yesterday and the remote would no longer even operate the locks. At my second stop or so, I had to do something that I hadn’t done for awhile: push the power lock button on the door upon exiting the vehicle in order to secure it. When I came back out, I had to use the hidden key that removes from the fob to unlock the driver’s door. An interesting thing happens when you do this: the alarm goes off. So I quickly fumbled the other half of my key into the ignition, which stopped the dreaded honking.
At my next stop, I removed the key from the ignition and made my exit, but first I popped the trunk to access some cargo in there. I left my door open while doing so. It’s at this point that I realized that what I held in my hand (the remote) would only start the car and would no longer get me inside the car. That part of the key was now laying in the cupholder, where I carelessly threw it while frantically trying to silence the alarm. I actually had the thought here that this would be a really easy way to lock myself out of the car, and that I should immediately go to the dealership and get a battery. They could payroll-deduct the purchase for me. They might even have extras lying around for no charge. It was right on the way to my next stop. It would literally be no bother. But what I did instead was.....nothing.
When I went back to the car, I again performed the manual unlocking of the door/frantic fumbling to silence the honking routine. You can guess what happened at the next stop. The moment I shut the car door I knew what I had done. In my hand was the useless remote, and in the cupholder was the only way to get in the car. Also my phone, because why not.
So as I walked a couple miles down the road and back to a nearby parts store (that I had just driven past) to buy a two dollar battery that would allow me access into my own car, I had time to think about where I had gone wrong.
Change your fob batteries at the first sign of a problem, folks. Don’t be like Jay.
jimz
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 13:55 |
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Ford vehicles either have a little pocket in the console storage bin or a pad on the center console tray. if the fob isn’t working, placing it in those positions will let the car see the NFC coil in the fob and let you start it.
But yeah. change the battery when necessary.
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JCAlan
> jimz
09/09/2016 at 13:59 |
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Ya they all have a way to manually defeat the system. People should be familiar with how to do it before it’s an emergency.
adamftw
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 14:02 |
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I put my key in the door. The car then unlocks.
spanfucker retire bitch
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 14:05 |
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I’m sure many people have wondered what happens when the battery in their fob for their car goes dead and they don’t even have a traditional ignition or a way to enter the car without it.
Not me, because my car thankfully has both of those things.
Future next gen S2000 owner
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 14:06 |
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Or we could just have a physical metal key attached to the fob so they don’t physically separate and you actually have to put the metal key into the ignition and turn it.
I know, I know, get off my lawn.......
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JCAlan
> adamftw
09/09/2016 at 14:11 |
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sorcery!
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adamftw
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 14:12 |
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It is some sort of witchcraft.
ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 14:16 |
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Use the fob, even with a dead battery, to push the start button in and the car will turn on.
Most of the push-button-only start cars have keys just to let you in the driver door. Those keys cannot start the car. Follow the above and you should be able to get to the place that sells batteries to change the one that is dead.
CalzoneGolem
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 14:20 |
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If my fob battery died I might not even notice.
Flyboy is FAA certified insane
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 14:32 |
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The only battery in my key is for the built in flashlight.
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JCAlan
> Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/09/2016 at 16:26 |
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BMW? My E36 has that. It's such a puny light though. Like an old watch light.
cbell04
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 16:56 |
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had a similar situation except that our key fobs actually just died first lost one button then the next next thing you know they did basically nothing but start the car. It also was a Chrysler product. went to go have the key fobs replaced at $150 a pop only to find out that the active recall Chrysler had been putting off stating they didn’t have the parts gave me two new fobs with a new ignition so I refuse to pay and got pissy about them taking care of the recall. It took them two weeks to Source the parts that was a long two weeks of making the alarm go off at every stop we made but in the end I didn’t have to pay for new keys so still kind of consider it a win.
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JCAlan
> cbell04
09/09/2016 at 17:00 |
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I can't understand why the alarm goes off when you unlock the car with the key. This makes no sense to me.
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cbell04
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 18:00 |
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Pain in the ass. Annoyed me so much I would have paid the extra $15.00 so that they could have engineered that feature in considering all other manufacturers have figured it out can’t be rocket science.
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Flyboy is FAA certified insane
> JCAlan
09/09/2016 at 18:21 |
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Yup!