smarty666

Hi All,

I only have about 7400 miles on my 2011 ES350. From day one, I've had nothing but issues with both intelligent keys on the car. Walking up to the car with the key in pocket, the doors not opening when you touch the handle, trunk not popping open when in back of it pushing up on the button, etc. Other times I walk up to the doors/trunk and they open as they should. This happens at least once every other day. Also, on the display on the dash, I'm intermittently getting "Key Not Detected" and "Low Key Battery."

I've taken the car and the intelligent keys into my Lexus dealer twice now. They did tests on the keys and signal coming from the car and say everything is great. They even replaced both batteries in the keys and I'm still having issues. They told me you can't have these keys next to a wallet, coins, cell phone, or anything else metal. Is this true? Where the hell am I suppose to put my phone or wallet if it can't be next to or near the intelligent key? Seriously?

Has anyone else had these issues and if so what did you do? Lexus is at a lost and can't find anything wrong but the proof is in my experience. It's getting to the point I'm going to have to call Lexus HQ and start complaining.

mlacomb

I have had issues on occasion with an old Blackberry device (edge network, no 3g / ATT only) being next to my smartkey and it not opening the doors. Just to try it a few times, hold the smartkey in one hand and open the door with the other - just to see if getting it away from anything in your pockets will help.

It's currently chilly here in Ohio - I see you're in NJ from your profile. I currently have my smart key in my inside left pocket in my coat; typically I have a 3/4g phone on my left hip that doesn't seem to interfere, and the old Blackberry usually resides on my right side. Appears to be far enough away to not interfere directly with the key.

I did have a major issue once (explained in other posts too) when about 100 yards or so from a cell tower. Went to the Autozone nearby, they said they get a LOT of complaints in that direct area that people cannot remotely lock and unlock their cars. Didn't stop the sales person from selling me a new battery (and that didn't help one bit) - but once I drove the car away from the area, I had no issues starting or unlocking the doors. I had to use the metal key to get in and touch the key to the start ring to get it to start by the way when I was within maybe 200 yards of the tower.

oldgrump

It's true (and it's explained in your Owner's Manual) that the key/car operation can be affected by metals and electronic gizmos such as your mobile/smart phone. I've found that the key has to be in a pocket by itself, cell phone and any change in another one. You'll get used to it.

smarty666

Yes, I have done that already and it still hasn't helped. It's pretty ridiculous that Lexus can't design a intelligent key that does not get drained by other metals. I've got one of these with another make for over two years now and have not had an issue with it getting drained.

There really isn't anything more I can do on my end. I'm not suppose to carry my change purse, wallet, or cell phone on me, c-mon Lexus, get it together!

jmcraney

I think the possibility that there is something wrong with your car, remote key or that something that you are carrying is causing this problem is so remote that you should not consider that. The remote key technology is reliable, mature electronics that is common to most cars all over the world.

The most likely cause of your problem is Radio Frequency Interference. Your remote key is a Radio Frequency transmitter that sends coded signals to a receiver in your car when you operate the keys on the remote. If there is an interfering signal then the operation is compromised.

If you find that you are having this problem only when you are parked at home or only when you are in your workplace parking lot or something like that then it is related to the parking place. If it seems to follow you then perhaps it is something you are carrying and that should be easy to sort out. Possible sources of localized interference are: radio transmitters such as cell sites, radio and TV stations, police and fire bases, radars (weather and ATC) in fact all manner of electronics that are closely collocated with your cars position. Another possible source is sodium vapor lights and fluorescent lights if they are malfunctioning such as flickering. Radio Frequency radiation from electric motors can cause a problem too.

The "Ether" is filled with radio signals and we have to expect that we will encounter locations where the wireless key technology will not work however for most of us it is extremely rare. If this happens to you, the possibility that your car or key is malfunctioning is pretty unlikely. If you are having persistent difficulties with the remote key changing the battery in the remote is the best thing to do - it should last about two years in normal use and replacement batteries are inexpensive.

RickC5

Truly an excellent post! Exactly what I wanted to say, but better! I carry the remote key in the same pants pocket as my keys & coins with my cell phone on my belt just above the pocket. Never a problem with how the key works--perfectly every time. However, we live out in Western Colorado where there's much less RFI than in bigger cities.

Anyway, thanks for a superb post, and I hope smarty figures out what's causing the interference with his key(s). I agree that RFI is the most likely root cause to his problem.

garsarno

Does C5 mean you also have a C5 Corvette?

smarty666

Thank you all for the thoughts and ideas, I really appreciate the brainstorming. Unfortunately, this has happened in all different locations, at work, home, different shopping malls, etc so it is not related to location.

My last resort, and I doubt this is the problem, is the Lexus dealer I bought the car from gave these little leather fitting pouches that the intelligent key slides into to help protect it from scratches and such. I'm going to try taking them off and seeing if it makes a difference but I highly doubt it.

Other than that, I'll be contacting Lexus HQ and demanding something be done.

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

Removing the leather cases will not help. They are designed to work with them. I have mine in a thick custom leather case You seem to have an RF problem, and since it's both keys, I suspect it's with the receiver in your car. The dealer should be able to trouble shoot this. As you can see my sig. I have two Lexus with Smart Keys and both work as they should, and range is not an issue. BTW, the Intelligent Key acronym is used by Nissan (Infiniti). Toyota (Lexus) uses the term Smart Key.

Lou

jmcraney

The "Low Key Battery" message is a unique message that is truly indicative of a low battery in the remote key. Once you replace that then that problem should be cured for a while. If you continue to get that message then there is something wrong with your remote key, most likely the battery. It you don't get that message anymore then you should take that out of your trouble shooting logic.

The fact that your car works correctly sometimes indicates that all is well with your car and remote keys.

The cover on your remote key is not a source of your problem, even if you change that and the problem is gone. An analogy is praying for rain, getting rain and then convincing yourself that prayer can bring rain.

The "Key Not Detected" is a message that indicates that the key is not present or that the car is unable to talk to the key. Three possible causes here: no key, key battery dead, Radio Frequency Interference. Lexus and your dealer have no authority to police the RF Spectrum so RFI problems are beyond their control and for the most part yours too.

There are some things about the feature that allows you to open the doors by touch, when the key is in your pocket or purse, that you should consider. 1. If you lock one of your remote keys in the car then the feature that allows you to open the door by touch is defeated even if you have the other key on your person. 2. If you leave one of your remote keys in close proximity to the the car, about 6 ft or less, for more than 10 minutes the touch-open feature is disabled. An example of this would be to store one of your keys on a wall-hook within six feet of your car - ten minutes after turning the car off the touch feature would be disabled and the remote battery is prematurely depleted. 3. Wearing gloves while opening the door will often defeat the touch-open feature. 4. If you try to use this feature with the key in your purse and your purse is on the ground then it may not work. There is a long list in your owner's manual of possible reasons why that feature might not always work for you. For me it is very reliable and only occasionally fails to operate and if that occurs then I just use the Open button on the remote and that works without fail.

As for "contacting Lexus HQ and demanding something be done": you should prepare yourself for disappointment. If your dealer can't find anything wrong then there probably isn't anything wrong.

smarty666

There is no reason why when I have the intelligent key in my coat pocket, sitting in the driver seat with the car running, should the low key battery or key not detected light come on the information display, and it does. Lexus has tested the batteries and told me the batteries are fine. We may not be able to control the RF spectrum but it is highly unlikely that in all these different locations I'm getting interference. There is something wrong with the car or the intelligent key. Please don't give me the "there is nothing wrong" bull ****. If that is the attitude your going to have, you might think about working for a car company. I don't need that type of pessimistic attitude, especially while I have another vehicle with an intelligent key, keep it in the very same pocket, and have no problems opening doors or the trunk at home, work, or shopping malls, where I do with this Lexus intelligent key.

jmcraney

Sir of Madam,

If I have said anything here that has offended you, I am truly sorry and I apologize. My only intent is to help you resolve the issue that is causing you such irritation.

There is no easy way to tell you that it is extremely unlikely that anything you are carrying will deplete the battery in your remote or that the cover is causing a problem other than to say it is extremely unlikely and you should be thinking in a different direction. It just isn’t going to be part of the problem unless you are carrying some sort of active RF device such as tracking beacon or you are wearing some sort of clothes that are made from some exotic material such as metalized Mylar or something like that.

You have the details about this problem and have solicited our help. About the only way we can help is to offer some thoughts and with your knowledge of events you sort of help us along by telling us why the suggestions we are sharing are not part of a solution. You best chance of getting this resolved is through forums such as this. The world is changing and it seems that the Internet and its denizens are far better sources of information about car problems than the dealerships. Of course the dealers still are the place to go for parts and repairs.

In your most recent post you told us you were getting the “Low Key Battery” while the engine is running.

As I told you in the post just above that, the “Low Key Battery” message is truly indicative that the remote key battery is low or that the remote key is malfunctioning.

So, it is very likely that one or both of your remotes has a bad battery or is defective. Although you told us the batteries have been checked or replaced, it is certainly possible the replacement battery was also defective or that the remote is defective.

It is possible that the car is the problem but most likely it is the remote or remotes.

How can this be sorted out? I would take my remote keys to the local Toyota dealer and ask them to replace the batteries in both keys. Then I would take one of the keys and wrap in a couple of layers of aluminum foil and with both of the keys with me, just in case one doesn’t work, I would operate the car with the key that is not wrapped in foil for a few days or weeks, until I had this problem again. I would stick with one key for several weeks as long as there was no problem. Then I would switch to the other key to see if it had a problem. Of course if I started to have the problem right off then I would switch the wrapping to the other key.

I hope that some of the other forum members will offer you some help too. If you prefer that I not offer any more ideas on this subject then just use my user ID “jmcraney” and inform me in your post that you don’t want to hear from me again and I will be pleased to cease my inputs.

Respectfully,

ssaleem

Hi
I have a similar problem. Were you able to solve the issues with your car. If yes, what was the solution???

jcat_350

have you replaced the batteries in the key fob yet? 99% of the time this resolves any issue with the keys.

ssaleem

The batteries have been changed. It is with Lexus repairs at the moment and they are also scratching their heads. Thx.