My car is two years old and I figured the battery on the key fob might be getting close to the end of it's life.
Wondering how long these last.
Thanks!

 

My TCH is 2.5 years old and I just replaced the battery on the fob. I wasn't aware there was a low battery warning, but if there is, I didn't see one. I just noticed that there was delay when touching the handle, or that I had to be really close to the car. Also, when I got back in the car (leaving it running) from the mailbox, it said key not detected, even though it was in my pocket. So it wasn't completely dead, but I went ahead and replaced it in both fobs. Mine had a battery that was not generally available, and I had to get it at the battery store, no biggie, it's by my house.

 

The display screen will alert you when the battery is low.

 

Mine lasted 2.5 years, bought 5 original panasonic cr1632 from digikey.com @.80cents each ,way cheaper than going to battery store or dealer. At last check digikey.com ran out of stock and they want to order minimum 600 pieces. They do have energizer in stock. The only thing they charge is for shipping which is almost as much as the order but still cheaper if you add up the cost of buying individual from dealer or battery store.

 

Mine died to the point where you had to hold the back of the fob up to the start button for the car to recognize it. I was about 3 years and 2 months before I started getting warnings - and I waited about 1-2 months before I finally found the replacement batteries.

 

My wife's prius battery lasted almost four years to the day before it failed. What a pain to change it. Luckily there are great instructions on line. Hopefully the Camry fob is somewhat easier.

 

The Camry is actually quite easy - you just pry the fob open at the hidden notch (under the plastic head of the removable key) - I actually used the tip of the hidden key to pry it open.

Then you just pull the center button assembly out, replace the battery, snap it back together, and you are done...

 

Thanks Spiff. Hopefully it'll be a good while before I'll need to.

 

Our 2004 Prius has 163,500 miles in 5.8 years of use. Both key fobs still use their original batteries. The long life may be due to many highway miles and the lack of the auto entry feature (the fob battery is only active when a button is pushed).

JeffD

 

EDIT: NEVER MIND! This was what happened on my wife's accord key fob (which I replaced at the same time). The Camry was really that easy - and they were both dead around the same time - even though I really only used one of them.

Actually I did have one issue where it acted like the new battery was dead, though.

I just bent the battery contacts slightly to ensure better contact with the bottom and edges of the battery and that made it work.