Earlier this year, I had an odd experience with keyless start. While on vacation in the Czech Republic, I rented a car in Prague, and drove two hours east to a small village of 70 people where my ancestors emigrated from to do some genealogy research. On the way there, a yellow triangle with a ! came on from time to time, but would go away. When I went to leave the village, I approached the car and pushed the key fob to unlock the doors, but nothing happened. Fortunately, I had also left the window down so I reached in and opened the car from the inside. I then pushed the start stop button on the dash and it said "no key fob detected." This went on and so I called Skoda, the manufacturer, and they said the fob battery must be weak but to use the fob to push the start button and eventually it would work.
I tried this with no success for 90 minutes. I was to the point of exasperation as I was stranded in a remote village, in a country where I don't speak the language, two hours from the airport where I was to catch a plane in 14 hours and it was a national holiday so everything was closed. Then I looked over at the passenger seat and there was a second key fob that I had no idea was there before. I picked it up, pushed the start button and the engine cranked up and drove to the airport without further problems, stopping for gas etc.
So now the questions are: Was it possible that the batteries in both key fob's were relatively weak and the second one was just far enough away that the car couldn't sense it? I mean the car wasn't that old that the batteries should be bad. Or was it that by reaching in through the open window, I set off an anti-theft feature that the car was programmed to think the window had been broken and programmed not to start for a period of time? I have had other cars that the car would honk if you opened a locked car through the window, but none that would refuse to start.
I tried this with no success for 90 minutes. I was to the point of exasperation as I was stranded in a remote village, in a country where I don't speak the language, two hours from the airport where I was to catch a plane in 14 hours and it was a national holiday so everything was closed. Then I looked over at the passenger seat and there was a second key fob that I had no idea was there before. I picked it up, pushed the start button and the engine cranked up and drove to the airport without further problems, stopping for gas etc.
So now the questions are: Was it possible that the batteries in both key fob's were relatively weak and the second one was just far enough away that the car couldn't sense it? I mean the car wasn't that old that the batteries should be bad. Or was it that by reaching in through the open window, I set off an anti-theft feature that the car was programmed to think the window had been broken and programmed not to start for a period of time? I have had other cars that the car would honk if you opened a locked car through the window, but none that would refuse to start.
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