Smart Key interference? - Page 2 - GreenHybrid

alan_in_tempe · #11 (**permalink**) 09-28-2006, 12:53 PM

The FOB uses both an active transmitter and a passive short range RFID. When the battery is dead, and you hold the fob up to the start button, then the RFID is allowing the car to recognize the key. Also, auto-open doors today are typically sonar (ultrasonic sound) or radar (radio with frequencies that will bounce off people; I believe they are in the 1-2 GHZ range). It is possible for the the RF (not the sonar type) to interfere with other radios such as our key fobs that use different frequencies (due to RF harmonics, etc.).

If you have good high frequency hearing, you should be able to hear chirping/clicking (typically 2 clicks per second) near the sonar type sensors if it is very quiet around it. You can't actually hear the sonar, but you can hear the lower frequency harmonics generated, which is analogous to the radar interference on the lower frequency key fobs.

-- Alan

spiff72 · #12 (**permalink**) 09-28-2006, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan_in_tempe

The FOB uses both an active transmitter and a passive short range RFID. When the battery is dead, and you hold the fob up to the start button, then the RFID is allowing the car to recognize the key. Also, auto-open doors today are typically sonar (ultrasonic sound) or radar (radio with frequencies that will bounce off people; I believe they are in the 1-2 GHZ range). It is possible for the the RF (not the sonar type) to interfere with other radios such as our key fobs that use different frequencies (due to RF harmonics, etc.).

Yeah, the RF openers can definitely be received by other devices. My radar detector used to go crazy around some of them. They seem to be one of the most common false alarm sources.

MickeysPal · #13 (**permalink**) 06-09-2007, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overhead

I've had my TCH for about a month and generally love drivinig it -- especially the Smart Key system. However, I have a recurring problem with the Smart Key system that I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced.

Once or twice a week I stop at a convenience store a few miles from my home. About half the time I stop there, I cannot lock the doors using the the push button on the door. The other times it seems to work okay. When I return to the locked car, I can never unlock the doors by just grabbing the door handle -- I have to use the mechanical key. And most of the time, I can't start the hybrid system when I'm parked at the store by pressing the Power button. The display says "KEY IS NOT DETECTED" and I have to start the car by touching the electronic key to the Power button.

There are a couple of tall (> 100 foot) red & white radio (?) antennas located less than 1/2 mile from the store and several more that are less than a mile away. All are visible from the store. Could these be interfering with the Smart Key system enough to cause the problems? The only other time I've had a problem with the Smart Key system is when I visited friends who live about a half mile from the store (away from the antennas).

My wife and I just returned from a trip to the Outer Banks of NC. During the trip, we took a ferry from Swan Quarter, NC to Ocracoke, NC and another ferry from Ocracoke to Hatteras, NC. We found that while on the ferrys or at the ferry terminals, we were unable to lock the car using the door handle button(s). Pressing the button(s) just caused the car to emit a long beep (similar to when a door is ajar or the car is not in park). We were able to lock/unlock the car using the SmartKey (FOB) without any problems.

Thankfully, what ever was causing the interference did not interfere with the car's ability to recognize the presence of the SmartKey. We were able to start/stop the car normally.

I assume the interference was caused by the navigational RADAR used by the ferrys???