FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

On a few different occassions I have gone to unlock/open my door by simply grabbing the door handle with the FOB in my watch pocket (RF pants - as usual) and the car did not recognize the FOB. I walked around and tried the passenger door - same thing.
I had to dig out the FOB and push the UNlock button to gain entry. Replace the FOB in my watch pocket and all is normal for the rest of the trip.

This has only happened a few times now - apparently the car must have detected that I had my arms full and would have to put the load down to dig out the FOB. :(

I park in the same reserved spots (home and ramp) and this problem is not repeatable.

FOB / Car were new in October. Battery seems to be fine in the FOB or the Unlock button would not work - correct?

I had another car woth an alarm system that would flash a code on the lights if it had detected an event while armed.

Is it possible that the car had detected some sort of un-authorized intrusion attempt and this is it's way of letting me know?

Thanks...

Re: FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

Randy,

This happened a couple of times when I had my Prius. I never did get to a root cause because it was so few and far between.

Let us know if you uncover anything more!

Larry

Re: FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

even i am facing this problem recently, i started facing this problem since around 2 -3 weeks and my car is just 2 1/2 months old.

Re: FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

I will tell you that if I am in the car and it is running and my wife tries to unlock the passenger door, it usally won't. Also if I am in the car and it is not in park her fob wont open the door for her. It does the same for me. I don't recall other problems with opening doors. Now locking is a different story. Sometime I have to press the button 2 and sometimes 3 times to get it to lock. I find sometimes holding the button for 4-5 seconds does the trick, but it is annoying.

The system seams to have a few flaws, or as some in the computer world call them "features"

Re: FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

LOL... Isn't that, "undocumented features"? ;)

Re: FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

I'll keep my eye on it and report back if it happens. I would like to hear more about what some of you have experienced as well.

One thing I found on my car that is odd. If I push the lock button on the outside of the door twice, the car will not unlock without pushing the button on the FOB. Since making that discovery I'm very careful to only push that button once.

Re: FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

That is wierd. Check the manual, because there is an easy way to reset the function to allow the car to unlock all the doors by just touching one door. That might reset the system for you.

Re: FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

What kind of time period are we talking about when you are trying to unlock the door after pushing the lock button twice? If we are talking about "seconds" then that may be the problem. I thought I read in the manual that after pushing the lock button you can't unlock the car for a certain number of second...maybe 5?

If we are talking minutes or hours after pressing the lock button twice then I haven't a clue:confused:

Re: FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

I think the unlocking problem you are talking about might be a built in security feature? Meaning it's designed to work that way. For example, if I'm in our CRV with the car running or in 'drive' my wife can't use her 'remote' to unlock or lock the car. Sounds like the FOB works the same way...

Re: FOB Proximity detection - failed?
 

Were you wearing gloves when this happened? In the manual it says that if you are wearing gloves the 'sensor' on the door handle may not work or may take longer to recognize you are grabbing the door handle. I also wonder if there may have been a thin layer of ice or condensation on the door handle...just a thought.