Key Fob Not Working? Six Checks to Run Before You Call a Locksmith

Updated September 2026. Written and checked by the technicians at Safe & Secure Locksmith, 4105 Macdonald St, Vancouver. Every figure below matches our published price list. Call 604-734-7233 for a quote before anyone is dispatched.

Start with the cheapest explanation

A fob that stopped working is usually a battery. They last two to four years, they die gradually, and the first symptom is a shorter range rather than nothing at all. If you have been standing closer to the car than you used to, that was the warning.

Coin cells are a few dollars at any pharmacy. The type is printed on the cell itself, usually CR2032 or CR2025. Most fobs open with a coin or a small flat screwdriver in a slot on the seam. Note which way up the old cell sat before you take it out.

The six checks

1. Replace the battery

Even if it seems too simple. Do it before anything else, and use a fresh cell rather than one from a drawer.

2. Look at the contacts

With the fob open, check for green corrosion or a bent metal tab that no longer touches the cell. A cotton bud with isopropyl alcohol fixes corrosion. A tab that has been flattened can usually be lifted back with a fingernail.

3. Try the spare

If the spare works, the problem is the first fob. If neither works, the problem is more likely the car: a failed receiver, a blown fuse, or a very flat vehicle battery.

4. Check the car battery

A weak vehicle battery produces strange electronics behaviour long before it fails to crank. Interior lights dim on cranking, the dash flickers, the remote is intermittent.

5. Use the mechanical key

Almost every proximity fob hides an emergency blade, usually released by a small catch on the side. There is a matching keyhole on the driver's door, often under a plastic cap. If that opens the door, the lock is fine and only the remote has failed.

6. Find the emergency start position

Push-button cars have a backup: hold the fob against a marked spot on the steering column, the start button itself, or a slot in the console while pressing the brake and the button. Your owner's manual names the exact spot. This works because the transponder is passive and does not need the fob battery.

What each symptom usually means

Buttons do nothing but the car starts when you hold the fob to the start button: the fob battery or the remote circuit. Cheap fix.

The car cranks and immediately stalls: an immobiliser or transponder problem, not a remote problem. That is a key job.

Nothing at all with either fob, and the interior lights are dim: the vehicle battery.

The fob works sometimes, mostly when close: a failing battery, a cracked chip in a fob that has been dropped, or radio interference, which is worse near some parkade equipment than others.

One button works and the others do not: worn contacts under the rubber pad. Sometimes cleanable, often the end of that fob's life.

When the fob is genuinely finished

Water damage is the common one, and it is usually terminal: a fob through a wash cycle or into a puddle corrodes internally even if it dries out and works briefly. Cracked circuit boards from repeated drops are the other. In both cases the fix is a replacement, cut and programmed to your vehicle.

A proximity smart key spare is $280 to $420, and a remote head transponder key is $180 to $280, from the prices page. The process is described in getting a transponder key without the dealership.

Should you buy one online

Sometimes it works out and sometimes it is money gone. The failure mode is a chip type that no programmer will accept, or a fob already locked to a previous vehicle. If you want to try, send us the part number before you buy and we will tell you whether we can program it. Bringing a fob we cannot use still costs you the visit.

What to have ready

Year, make and model. Whether the key is a blade or a proximity fob. Whether you have another working key. Whether the car currently starts by any method. Those four answers get you a real price on the phone. Call 604-734-7233 or book online.

The related failure people miss

If the key turns hard in the ignition, or has to be jiggled, the fob is not your problem and neither is the key. That is a worn ignition cylinder, and it gets worse until the key will not turn at all, usually at the least convenient moment. See ignition repair and, for background on how the electronics fit together, transponder keys versus traditional keys.

Article history

Updated September 2026. Prices checked against the shop sheet and the troubleshooting order rewritten so the cheapest checks come first.