Smart key failed...?

My Smart Key which came with the car when bought used in Feb 2016 seemed like it had a low battery- occasionally but with increasing frequency needed contact to door handles, start button in order to function... so this week I replaced the battery...

...and it stopped working COMPLETELY

Anyone else had this happen?

I stopped by the dealer parts shop and the guy there double checked nothing was loose or visibly broken in the fob (even replaced the battery again) and when it still wouldn't work he said "well yeah, they do sometimes just stop working"

Do I just have to suck it up? I have a spare key (now my only key)

Also not sure why Nissan have such a POOR design that the thing needs prying apart to replace the battery (our Prius keyfob has a screw cover for the battery)

The FOB can fail if exposed to excess moisture. Under normal conditions, they are not too likely to just quit working for no reason. The first thing to check is that the battery has proper voltage, is installed correctly (not upside down), making good contact, with no debris inside.

Replacement FOBs can be purchased for around $90. You will need to pay the dealer to mate the FOB to the car. When the mating process is done, all the FOBs that are going to be used with the car have to be present for the process.

Shrug. The Intelligent Key (Nissan parlance) fobs that came w/my leased '13 worked fine. My currently owned used '13 which I bought in July 2015 also has no problems w/its fobs. The one in my pocket is supplied by Alps Electric (a Japanese company).

tvspaulmoore said:

Also not sure why Nissan have such a POOR design that the thing needs prying apart to replace the battery

Click to expand...

Nissan's been using this design since at least the 2007 model year, if not earlier. My mom's 07 Altima Hybrid also has the same shape of fob and general design. It also requires prying apart to change the battery. She bought the car new in ~Feb 08. Their fobs still work fine.

IIRC, theirs were surprisingly supplied by Siemens VDO (https://www.siemens.com/press/en/pressrelease/?press=/en/pr_cc/2007/12_dec/axx20071217.htm&content[]=CC&content[]=Corp). Apparently. they're part of another German company now, Continental.