Mysterious FOB issues

[fcigoj]

Hi all,

Yesterday I was doing the usual errands, and coming out of the last one (of course) my car refused to acknowledge my presence: no interior lights, no reaction to touching the door handle, no reaction to pressing the open button on the FOB.
I thought it must be the battery, as a couple of days earlier I saw a low battery warning on the display, so I went to fetch a new one...but nothing.
I had to go home and get the other FOB, return to the car and that was promptly recognized, and all worked fine.
This morning, out of curiosity I tried the previously malfunctioning FOB before throwing it in the trash and......it worked fine.

So, my question is: has anyone experienced anything similar, and understood the root cause, or got closer to it ?
I don't believe in ghosts, and I hate erratic behavior, as it could happen again tomorrow, further away from home and in the middle of the night.

Grateful for any help/ideas

 

[TheIcemanCometh]

Sometimes there can be odd interference and by the time you returned it was gone. That said, do you have original FOB with the key? I would have used the key to open the door. Then once inside tried to start the vehicle.

 

[Sandroad]

Maybe some minor corrosion in the fob briefly prevented good contact with the new battery? Maybe the new battery had been on the shelf too long and was wimpy? I’d clean inside the fob and use another new battery. And you could use the other fob and keep the first one as a spare?

 

[fcigoj]

Sometimes there can be odd interference and by the time you returned it was gone. That said, do you have original FOB with the key? I would have used the key to open the door. Then once inside tried to start the vehicle.

I did, with the whole Christmas tree blinking and honking, but putting the FOB on the start button did nothing

 

[linuxgod]

Sometimes my fob works immediately when I grab the handle. Sometimes I stand there pulling it repeatedly like a moron and after 5 or 6 or 7 times it unlocks. I have NFC why.

 

[Boston Mangler]

Hear me out and don’t call me crazy until you try it, because that’s what I thought of the first dude that posted it here

Take battery out, scuff both sides very light with whatever grit sandpaper and try it again

Someone mentioned this and I tried it and both fobs have worked flawlessly sinxe

He had mentioned something about the sour coating some companies put on them so kiddos don’t eat em and I thought he was loony toons. Nope, it worked

Try it, it’s free

 

[fcigoj]

Hear me out and don’t call me crazy until you try it, because that’s what I thought of the first dude that posted it here

Take battery out, scuff both sides very light with whatever grit sandpaper and try it again

Someone mentioned this and I tried it and both fobs have worked flawlessly sinxe

He had mentioned something about the sour coating some companies put on them so kiddos don’t eat em and I thought he was loony toons. Nope, it woeked

Try it, it’s free

You may have a point there. In fact I have always been suspicious of what has changed on batteries since the "kid-safe" sign appeared on packaging

 

[GordJ]

And when all else fails pull the scuff panels and check for corrosion in the connectors. This is another symptom of water leaks that I have experienced.