Anyone have a car that has no keys, just a key fob and had a dead car battery?

[DVC-Don]

Friends of mine say I'm the only one they know that reads the owners manual. We had two cars that have the hidden key, but I knew that the day after taking delivery from READING THE OWNERS MANUAL!

 

[Vernie822]

So you do have a back up (emergency) key then?

One posters says he googled and found some makes and models with fobs which do not have those back up keys and we are wondering what they are. I am still guessing he just found individuals saying they had no such key because they were unaware of them (they tend to be well hidden; it is easy to think you do not have one).

I do. I don't know that I would've purchased the model I have (Mazda CX5) without one. It's helpful to know that in any event I have a key and can still get into my car.

 

[tvguy]

@tvguy... did this problem actually happen to you, or are you just wondering what could have happened?

Did not happen to me. Just wondered, but checking Google, it has happened to a lot of folks, appears Mercedes at least has no hidden key and no key slot. I would post the link but the guy who was demonstrating how to get power to the car by jacking it up had a few choice words about an expensive car not having a key or key slots.

 

[sam_gordon]

Did not happen to me. Just wondered, but checking Google, it has happened to a lot of folks, appears Mercedes at least has no hidden key and no key slot. I would post the link but the guy who was demonstrating how to get power to the car by jacking it up had a few choice words about an expensive car not having a key or key slots.

It's more likely the guy didn't know where the mechanical key and slot were.

 

[tvguy]

I love it! I almost never take my key out of my bag and it is impossible to lock keys in the car.

It's so easy when I have my hands full that I don't have to fumble with a key!

The good news for you is that almost all these cars will shut down when the fob gets too far away.

I don't know that there's any mechanical benefit other than I don't think you can over crank a push button.

I guess I could get used to it. Only had the car 4 days so did not get used to it. I would take the FOB out to open all 4 doors ( there were 5 of us), get in, get the seat belt on, then try and go to put a key in the ignition, realize I didn't need to, have to take the seat belt off to put the FOB back in my pocket. If it was just me, I could just open the door without taking the FOB out, but since it was raining, and there were 5 of us, I wanted to get everyone in quickly so I opened the sliding doors while still approaching the car.

 

[tvguy]

It's more likely the guy didn't know where the mechanical key and slot were.

Just looked at the video again, he had shots of the door handled, no key slot. Google it, there are many posts on the issue.

 

[marius97]

Friends of mine say I'm the only one they know that reads the owners manual. We had two cars that have the hidden key, but I knew that the day after taking delivery from READING THE OWNERS MANUAL!

Man card officially REVOKED...We don't read manuals.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Friends of mine say I'm the only one they know that reads the owners manual. We had two cars that have the hidden key, but I knew that the day after taking delivery from READING THE OWNERS MANUAL!

DH and I always bring it in the first night we have the car and read it too---you learn all kinds of things. Newer cars have so many great features that many people seem to miss entirely---I want to KNOW.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Just looked at the video again, he had shots of the door handled, no key slot. Google it, there are many posts on the issue.

We had one car where the slot was somewhere else, I think under the trunk area, I don't recall now, but somewhere not so obvious.

Can you post a link to the video or to a list of cars this is supposed to be the case for, please? Since you have already googled (and what I pull up goggling from Germany is not the same)

 

[NHdisneylover]

I stand corrected--I was just on facebook with DH and asked him--our first keyless entry car had it'S slot on the door handle as well--what made it so not obvious an non intuitive was that it was totally hidden and you had to pop tha front panel of the door handle off in order to access it.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Here, I found a video:

(see, how in a video just trying to show "no slot" it would appear there is none--I still bet the maker of the video you saw TVGuy was just not aware of it and did not read his manual)

 

[kirstenb1]

Couldn't do the quote feature, but someone talked about getting locked out of a car. Most if not all Fords above the base level have a built in external keypad. You select your 5 digit code, or use the factory code, when you're locked out of your car. OT, but I love this feature!!

 

[bdcp]

So, you get in with your hidden key, then what? If the battery is dead, the car wont' start anyway

 

[bdcp]

Couldn't do the quote feature, but someone talked about getting locked out of a car. Most if not all Fords above the base level have a built in external keypad. You select your 5 digit code, or use the factory code, when you're locked out of your car. OT, but I love this feature!!

And, if the car battery is dead.....

 

[NHdisneylover]

So, you get in with your hidden key, then what? If the battery is dead, the car wont' start anyway

Well, if the car battery is dead, you need in (on most new cars) to be able to pop the hood so that you can replace or jump it.

If only the key fob battery were dead, then you can also use that back up key to drive until you can get the fob's battery replaced (but they so not look super strong, so I would get the fob fixed pretty quickly and not stress the key with lots of use)

 

[tvguy]

Here, I found a video:

(see, how in a video just trying to show "no slot" it would appear there is none--I still bet the maker of the video you saw TVGuy was just not aware of it and did not read his manual)

Could be

 

[tvguy]

We had one car where the slot was somewhere else, I think under the trunk area, I don't recall now, but somewhere not so obvious.

Can you post a link to the video or to a list of cars this is supposed to be the case for, please? Since you have already googled (and what I pull up goggling from Germany is not the same)

Sent it to you via conversation since there is some language that may be too strong for the DIS.

 

[xlxo]

Hmm... if I was in your situation...

• look for fob key...
• call AAA or a tow-truck driver. They will slim jim or run a wire through the weather stripping to get the car door opened

Once inside...

• Tow-truck, taxi, or Emergency services will be able to jump start your car for you. Some will even sell you a replacement battery on the spot if their instruments find your battery doesn't have enough cranking amps to get the car started.
• I just invested in one of this tiny battery packs for my tablet and phone. To my amazement, it even boosts my cars. I even helped a co-worker a few weeks ago. Works great when car is parked against a wall when booster cables are too short or the second vehicle is too dangerous to park adjacent.
  
  

 

[gary1955]

I once read the reason why. I can't seem to recall exactly why but when I read it it made perfect sense.

definitely they do it for their convenience not the customer.

I asked an agent about it and she said it was so it would be less likely that the customer would lose the second fob since it was so costly to replace. so I responded, then it would be twice as costly.

the two reasons I have for being able to separate the fobs is to allow someone else to be able to access the car without having to track me down, the other is so I wouldn't have to carry the mass around in my pocket.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Sent it to you via conversation since there is some language that may be too strong for the DIS.

Thanks. (it is a Mercedes C230 if anyone else wants to look it up)

What I hear in the video is the person saying the car also comes with a key but he did not get it when he bought the car--which I think means either he bought it used and the key was missing, or he sees a slot and knows a key must exist but did not know how to find it on the key fob. There is no clear shot of the handle at all nor any discussion of a lack of key slot--only no key and the car battery is dead from letting it sit forever without use.


I kind of think the guy just didn't read the manual and does not know how to get the key, or bought a car missing the back up, not that Mercedes failed to put a basic fail safe into that one car (which they put into all their others).