Locked Out Again

[wroughtironron]

Well, I got locked out of the car (2010) two months ago, the day after buying it, and it has gone and done it again.

Its under 3 month warranty, so the dealership (RRG Rochdale) has come to collect it today. I travel a lot, and am grateful it happened on my drive, not maybe 85 miles away at my head office in Notts or even further.

Neither fob works, and Timpsons refused to renew the fob batteries as "we can't touch Lexus fobs in case they de-programme".......

[Bratman91]

It's very easy to renew the fob batteries yourself. Do you not have the mechanical keys inserted into your fobs?

[wroughtironron]

Just a bit worried in case the fobs de-programme and I have to take them to Lexus for re-programming.

Also, the alarm goes off if you use the metal key

[Exdee]

You should get a notification on the dash for low Battery before the fob dies on you. I wonder if there is some kind of interference around you that is depleting the Battery at a faster then normal rate.

[Bratman91]

I agree with Jami that you should get a warning that the fob Battery is low. Wroughtironron, your post is the first time I have ever seen any mention of there being a risk of the fob needing reprogramming after a Battery change and the users manual gives comprehensive directions on how to change the Battery (C2032) so I think that the risk of causing problems is very low. Maybe Timpsons had had a bad one-off experience.

If you have a users manual, take a look at the section dealing with Battery saving features of the fob as it could be that you are circumventing these inadvertently. The manual says that the fob needs to be within a few feet of the car to operate (and not un-set the Battery saving options) but my experience is that the range is much greater. If you keep your keys within this range of the car then this could cause problems trying to unlock electronically. The fob Battery should last a matter of years rather than months, although I guess that this could be much sooner if the Battery saving feature is circumvented. Also, you should be getting a warning before the Battery has completely expired as you still need it to start the car after using the mechanical key to get in.

The mechanical key would set the alarm off but locking the car using this does not set the alarm so subsequent unlocks should be OK.

[wroughtironron]

RRG have had the car for two days now and tell me that they're awaiting a Lexus tech to carry out tests on it to solve the problem - hopefully by tomorrow, as I no longer have transport

[wroughtironron]

Collected the car yesterday from Lexus Salford - they've put new fob batteries in both fobs) and that might solve the problem.

Time will now tell

[is200 Newbie]

2 days to replace key fob batteries .... good job they didn't charge labour !