Locked out. Key FOB(s) ignored by truck

Or you can put the batteries in your console and use your key to open your door.

 

Yeah, if you can find the Mickey Mouse key! Better take the Gen 1, it had no such issues- oh dang, I sold it.

But you are right about putting spares inside.

 

What other issues have you had to make you so exasperated with this truck?

 

Lots of little things. Queefing window seal. Take it in twice to fix, along with the annoying "we couldn't duplicate issue" on the first pass. Had to record the issue. Had a dash rattle that sounded like a Geiger counter even when driving down a city street. Same issue. Take in, not fixed, have to go for a ride after I realize they didn't fix. Drivers seat starting to fray at the seams. It looks 5 years old, not 1.5. Seats are uncomfortable on long drives. That's not a broken thing, but it does annoy me more the longer I own. I really like ECT mode, hate standard eco mode, would be more tolerable if reversed, and the switch was on the steering wheel. My Nav is a joke, and the voice activation is insanely bad. One of my biggest annoyances is that my iPhone 6 struggles to make use of reading texts and pandora connection has to be routinely coaxed back by disconnecting and reconnecting.

Those are the ones that come immeadiately to mind. During this episode today, my wife's comment was "we've had more problems with this vehicle than any we've ever owned." Sadly, I agree.

I really like this thing out in the dirt. Love the way it looks. Just tired of the annoying BS.

 

What midsized truck do you think would be a better fit for you? Did you drive any others before deciding on the Taco?

 

Better question: What vehicle did you drive before?

 

Speaking of, what's the typical range on these fobs, I literally have to walk up to the truck to within 10' for it to react

 

#turdgenproblems

 

Mine is 20 months old and I still have +50 ft of range.

 

I'm guessing some people may have other things in their pocket throughout the day that depress a fob button and cause it to wear sooner.

RZ Rob

 

Mine will work at over 50 feet away.

 

06 G35. Had it for 9.5 years and nearly 100k. The seates we in need of help and it was starting to have overheating issues in the summer.

 

Some have asked about battery and range. Litterally an hour before I turned around in the doorway of the grocery and it chirped lock from a 50ish feet away.

That said, I got the spare, which has never been used and it locked and unlocked the door on the first try. The ref light on the fob was bright and responsive. Thought maybe a battery. As I stated before, went inside the house for 3 or 4 min, came back and no joy from either fob. Seemed extremely unlikely at that point it that a battery would be the issue in both.

I did go get some new batteries. Interestingly, by only changing the one I usually carry it hasn't done the ignore routine again. I'm now wondering if there was a low battery and that fob was being rejected due to it, and possibly even overriding the other signal. Seems like nonsense, but so far no more issues today. We'll see going forward.

Here's to hoping.

 

Being the tallest midget isn't much of a prize. GM twins are hideous, especially the Chevy. Honda is a suburban minivan with a bed. Maybe the Nissan, but man it's plain.

 

So its all about looks to you in shopping this segment? Most of your complaints with the Taco are interior ergonomic that the other brands might cure..... if you could get over the looks.

What do you need the Taco for that the Ridgeline couldn't do?

 

No it isn't all about looks. That said, at the time, I wanted something that would be dirt friendly. Full size doesn't fit i the garage and they're elephants in on the trail. Didn't want a Jeep. That left three. At the time the rep on the previous GM twin was poor. This version was too new to tell. The Nissan... just wasn't exciting. it was risky to go with a new model year. I banked on toyotas previous wins.

 

Be sure to turn off your spare fobs, they transmit even when not in use. The instructions to turn it off are in the owners manual.

 

OP, it sounds like you fixed the problem with battery swap to FOB.

Now, if the problem persists, it could be the steering column lock solenoid. In vehicles with a physical key, sometimes the key won't turn and you have to slightly wiggle the steering wheel while turning the key. This physically unlocks the steering column and lets you turn the key in the ignition. On push button vehicles however, its electronic and this action is performed automatically when it "senses" the FOB is in range and when you depress the brake and push ignition. If the solenoid is going bad, while probably a worst case and rare scenario, it won't recognize any of the FOBs regardless of range or battery power. Although, I suppose this would hold no bearing on whether or not you could use it to lock and unlock the doors.

Source: happened to me in my Nissan 370Z. FOBs would work intermittently and could not for the life of me figure out why either of them would not work until she died completely, in my garage, luckily. Had to get it towed to dealer, warranty repair.

Disclaimer: I'm not a mechanic or even claim to be knowledgeable about cars. This is just my personal experience trying to help. It's frustrating when the symptoms seem to be random, only because we haven't thought or might not even know what the real problem is. Maybe this info is useful and helps diagnose the problem further and correctly.

Good luck OP.

 

Hmm maybe the fob I have is low on juice

 

Although my Tacoma doesn't have this system my Acura does and pretty sure it works the same. In case the battery goes dead or remote fails (like gets wet) you can use the manual key inside the remote to open the door and then hold the remote in front of the start button to start. It has a transponder inside.