Quality of Key Fob

[kalel14]

My car is pretty close to always working. It's rare that I need to use the fob to unlock. Usually when there's an issue with the handles sensing my hand it's because a passenger grabbed their handle first. The car seems to then disable the handle unlocking to prevent unauthorized access to the car.

The car is smart enough to know that the key fob is on a different side than the handle being opened? That would take more than one really smart receiver in the vehicle to determine distance from center. That doesn't seem plausible.

 

[WattsUp]

The car is smart enough to know that the key fob is on a different side than the handle being opened? That would take more than one really smart receiver in the vehicle to determine distance from center. That doesn't seem plausible.

The physical proximity required for keyless entry (via handles) seems to be quite small -- smaller than the width of the car. Thus, you need to be on the same side of the car as the key in order to unlock it by grabbing a handle.

The car doesn't need to be terribly "smart" for this feature... just have transponders on both sides of the car (probably inside the doors) with suitably small ranges.

 

[campfamily]

The car is smart enough to know that the key fob is on a different side than the handle being opened? That would take more than one really smart receiver in the vehicle to determine distance from center. That doesn't seem plausible.

The physical proximity required for keyless entry (via handles) seems to be quite small -- smaller than the width of the car. Thus, you need to be on the same side of the car as the key in order to unlock it by grabbing a handle.

The car doesn't need to be terribly "smart" for this feature... just have transponders on both sides of the car (probably inside the doors) with suitably small ranges.

I agree. If I have the key, my wife cannot open the door from the passenger side. Also, I'm a runner, and I don't like carrying my key with me when I run. If I put the key on the top of the wheel (doesn't matter which one), the proximity sensor still works (i.e., the door will open if you touch the handle). But, if I put the key under the front fascia in the center, neither door will open.

Taking a bit of an offramp here, has anybody tried the keypad that Ford sells on their website with our cars? When I look at the application list, it doesn't have our car listed; in fact, it infers that it won't work if the car has keyless start. My brother used to have a Ford Explorer with keyless start, and the truck also had the keypad (not as an add-on, was built-in to the design).

Keith

 

[Abelgoddard]

I doubt that wear and tear on the fob will be a problem at the end of the lease. But, personally I almost never touch mine. 2014, just passed 2 years old now, and pretty much looks new. I use the door handle probably 99.99% of the time, to either lock or unlock, and at worst I've only ever had to try a couple times to get it to unlock. Locking works 100% of the time if I actually touch the sensor.

Also, I got an Apple Watch, and LOOOOOVE the app on the watch. I use it to remote start almost daily.

 

[bitguru]

I got an Apple Watch, and LOOOOOVE the app on the watch. I use it to remote start almost daily.

I have the watch app, but it doesn't do much for me. My watch shows 0%, 0 EV miles, 0 miles range, 0.0 mi trip dist, 0% brake score, and 0 driving score. On the phone there are non-zero values, so I'm not sure what's going on.

update: I uninstalled and reinstalled the apple watch app and the zeros are still there, but there are two more screens that weren't there before. The first new screen has start/stop/lock/unlock buttons.

 

[Hyper Driver]

Last night my FFE Key Fob went through a complete washing machine cycle! After removing the hidden key then separating the two halves to get inside, the circuit board looked undamaged and the battery still had contact grease. I let it air dry for a few hours before putting back together. The car doors unlocked by way of the handle sensor and there were no problems while driving. The doors re-locked by manually pushing key fob button. The operation seems to be unaffected by the submerging.

 

[JTCalif]

Fob battery life has gone from years to WEEKS, recently!
Have to put in a new 2032 battery at least once a month now (when at about 3.01 v.).

This drain seemed to start about when the car reached age 5: possible connection?

Any guess about an alternative fix?
I am going to wear out the fob (and my patience) quickly at this rate.

Oh, yes: the myFordMobile link no longer works; I used to use it often. a clue?

 

[Pearl]

Sub quality CR2032 batteries?

quote=JTCalif post_id=32482 time=1586815569 user_id=3823]
Fob battery life has gone from years to WEEKS, recently!
Have to put in a new 2032 battery at least once a month now (when at about 3.01 v.).

This drain seemed to start about when the car reached age 5: possible connection?

Any guess about an alternative fix?
I am going to wear out the fob (and my patience) quickly at this rate.

Oh, yes: the myFordMobile link no longer works; I used to use it often. a clue?
[/quote]

 

[Heima]

A shot in the dark here, the security module? Maybe it is constantly pinging the fob to identify. If you have Forscan, you could reset the module and see if that helps. If you have a multimeter, you could measure the current draw on the fob battery.

For a while, I had a problem with a fob that it appeared as if the battery was going dead. The car could not recognize the key. But if I tap the fob on a hard surface, or slapped it with my hand, it would work again. Remember banging the old tube TV on the top of the cabinet?

Anyway, the reason is because the little fingers that come off the circuit board inside of the fob, they are supposed to touch the battery, and were not making good contact. After carefully bending them up a very little, problem solved.

Hope that solves your problem.

 

[JTCalif]

Good idea, thank you for giving me something to try. I measured a steady 4.6 microamp's (with a fresh battery), with no button pressed.
If CR2032 capacity is about 240 mAh, that should give me over 5 years ... BUT that is down to 2.0 volts. This Ford setup seems to become unreliable after the top 1 or 2 tenths of a volt is dropped, which takes about 600 hours (based on a discharge curve from an Energizer data sheet); that is similar to the short fob life I observe lately.

What that "security module" you mentioned? Same as the "Smart data link module" from the car manual??
I did pull and replace that fuse (F73), and saw no change.

I could buy a Forscan[?} device, or some other OBD tool, but wonder if it would be able to reset such a module (whatever it is called).
Your guess??

 

[triangles]

The RFA module is what interacts with the fobs. First thing I'd try is disconnecting the 12V battery, give it a few min. and then reconnect. That should "reboot" all modules in the car. Hopefully your RFA module isn't going bad. That would be really expensive to fix.