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My wife's key fob for her Rav4 died the other day and when I replaced the battery I get nothing. Tried a brand new battery and still nothing. Do key fobs go bad? I really find it hard to believe that they would go bad. I have never heard of it happening until it happened to me. Could it be something I am missing?
Battery in upside down? Contacts tarnished or bent? Something got out of place when you put the cover back together?
But yes, they do seem to go bad. Button contacts wear out or break. The ones I have right now seem to have gone berserk. I have to keep them wrapped in foil or the alarm goes off constantly, doors lock and unlock, windows go down etc. Plus they will not unlock the doors or start the truck when I push the buttons, so I have to use the hard key and set off the alarm every time I get in.
I will try taking them apart and look for problem contacts and replace the batteries, but I think it is a computer problem. I got them online for about $65 or $80 each because the dealer wanted $300 each. I think they re-sold defective ones that were returned and that is why they were so cheap. Odd though, they worked great for several months.
I have a Hyundai that has gone through two sets of batteries, and never had to reprogram. Of course a RAV4 could be an entirely different beast.
I also replaced the battery in my son's Subaru and it didn't work. I tried another battery and still no functionality. I finally looked at the small contact that activates the remote and it was broken and not making contact with the plastic push button on the remote. I did a bit of rudimentary soldering and everything work as designed.
Check the contacts to be sure they are slightly springy to the touch, if not they may be worn out or broken the way mine was.
I've replaced the batteries in my wife's 2013 Highlander a few times, never had to reinitialize them. If you have them next to your smartphone (say in your bag with pushbutton start), the smart phone can interfere with the car's ability to see the key fob as being present. Have to keep the two away from each other.
I don't know if fobs have a similar design, buy the one for my Vette was giving me problems, so I opened it up to change the battery, and noticed the "arms" that hold the battery in place were loose.
These arms are soldered to the main circuit board.
Got out my soldering iron, and re-soldered them in place, and the fob works perfectly.
Yes, electronic items do go bad. Contact your Toyota (or Lexus) dealership and find out if they will cut and program a ebay purchased FOB, if not you will need to purchase a replacement from them.
My old cars key fob was still on the same battery and it was 15 years old. I always wondered what kind of battery it had in it.
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