Ford Keyless Key causing problems locked out

If you have a Ford car, with a keyless fob you leave in your pocket, there’s a good chance you’ll have key trouble. The Ford Keyless key, or ‘smart’ key has a key battery inside.

Gone are the days when you can get away with cheap nasty car key batteries and we see problems every week.

Good news, it’s easy to sort out yourself, without a Ford dealer.

Battery Inside Ford Keyless Key

Your Ford Keyless Key works in tandem with your car.  As you approach your car to use it, the key and car have already checked each other out!

This is why when you press the button on the dash, the car starts, just like magic. It’s easy to use and everyone loves it.

That’s unless your Ford key won’t work, and you’re locked out and the car won’t start.  When you understand how everything works, you’ll realise this is normal, there’s no reason to panic.

In the Days before the Ford Keyless Key

In the good old days, there was car lock and a car key. When you put the key in the lock and turned it, something clever happened that let you use the car. The key had a transponder chip inside it, much like the one you have inside a cat or a dog.

The car checked out the chip, making sure it recognised it, and the car engine started. Quick and easy. That was in the olden days.

Then the Ford Keyless key came along.

So fast forward and we still have a transponder chip, but it’s different.

Imagine the car sits there, like an obedient dog, waiting for a call from its owner.

We all know that if you have a pet dog and you’ve been out all day, the moment it hears the key in the door, it’s ready to greet you.

The door opens, and it’s all over you waiting for a stroke and some quality bonding time. This is the same as your car.

When the car is sitting there, imagine it’s a dog. When you approach it, or press the buttons on the Ford Keyless key, then the car should come to life. It’s alert and waiting for the next thing to happen, for you to press the big ‘start button’ so you can go out on a trip.

The problem comes when you have a Ford keyless key that no longer works.

This time when you approach the car, or press the key button, it’s like having a deaf dog. It won’t respond and just sits there doing nothing!

Why is the car ignoring you? One of four reasons.

Ford Key system is faulty

This is unlikely, but we’ve seen it once. The keys are new, with new key batteries, but they won’t work the remote central locking.

It’s a trip to a Ford specialist I’m afraid and a BIG bill. But that’s the bad news out the way, so let’s not think about big bills.

Ford Key Problem 1 – Key damage.

This is common, for one of two reasons. Maybe the car key has got wet, which is very bad for this type of key. If it has got wet, then click here to see if you can save it!

Or maybe it’s damaged inside for some other reason. This is hardly surprising. There are tiny delicate components inside, with no protection from the elements.

We believe it’s a good example of Inferior Component Design and are seeing this throughout the motor trade. Hopefully there’s no key damage which leads us to the most common problem, a flat key battery.

Ford key Problem 2 – Key Battery low

Ford Keyless key batteries last 12-18 months, so sooner or later you’ll start to get the message that your key battery is low.

If you change it, or get it changed somewhere, then the message should go away.

However if you leave it, or use a really cheap battery, then you’re in for trouble.

Eventually it will stop working and the car will not respond and you’ll get this message, which is bad.

Changing the key battery is very easy as long as you’re careful, and have a good quality battery. Here’s a video we made that shows you how to do it.

However, if you don’t fancy changing it yourself, find a good local car key man Auto Locksmith to do it for you. This is how you find a good auto Locksmith.

When we change them in Lincoln, we charge £10. The owner can come back all the time they have the car and we’ll change it again for free. With this type of Ford keyless key, it’s a good deal! So look out for who else offers this deal.

Ford Key Problem 3  Flat Car Battery

This catches a few people out sometimes. If the car battery is flat, then it’s never going to respond to the car key. The problem is you won’t be able to tell until you get into the car.

When you get in, put on the hazard lights and see if the flash. If they do, then the car battery is probably ok, but if they don’t flash, you have no power.

So now you need to get into the car, even though the car key buttons won’t work.

This is easy but we’ll need to cover it in another post. Click here to find out how.

We hope this all makes sense and has been helpful