So this Wednesday I take the dog (and so my wife's Pilot) and she takes our baby and the G. She calls me later and says the car won't start. I troubleshoot over the phone but she can't get it started. Luckily I was only 10 minutes away so I drove over and sure enough - DOA. I hit the start button and it just tells me 'no key'.

The key won't do a thing; it doesn't get picked up by the door locks or ignition system, and won't lock or unlock anything remotely via the buttons. I figure 'no problem, the key battery is dead, odd that it happened so quick but not the end of the world'. So I stick the fob in the slot and the steering wheel moves (not sure why) but the car won't start- still 'no key'. ARGH!

I call the dealer and the service guy who answers says 'try the other key', which would be fine but we don't generally carry both keys- who does? The other key is at home! So he says they can call roadside assistance and have it towed in (abotu 45 minutes away)... ugh. I'm getting fairly bent out of shape about being stranded in a car that hasn't had it's first oil change and the guy actually says "It's a great system when it works." I almost lost it.

I'm luckily not far from home so we all go home in my wife's Pilot and get the other key. Sure enough the car starts right up! I call the dealership and I'm bringing it (and all the keys) in on Monday. I'm pretty upset and disappointed. This is scary bad. I was lucky enough to be close to them and close to home. What happens if it leaves my wife and kid stranded an hour away on a cold night? What if I'm three states away?

The scariest thing? The service guy said this is the 3rd '07 they've had the issue with! That's not good! You all may want to start carrying both keys, which is a sh*t answer in my opinion but I'm not sure what else to do?

 

Was the fob dropped on a hard surface? I thinking something like that may have screwed that thing... If I were to run into the same problem with my wife, my first questions would be whether she dropped the damn thing.

Good luck my friend and keep us posted.

 

something similar happened to me one night at a restaurant called Capitol Grill...

I go to Valet get out of my car and give the guy my key and tell him " the headlights turn off when you get out and close the door so dont worry about turning them off inside" he says ok and hands me the slip and i hand him my key... after dinner i go outside hand him my ticket and he goes to get my key..he comes back and says sir i dont have your key you never gave it to me..so im like yes i did i know i did..he shows me the ticket and written on the ticket is "no key" and i said to him look man how the hell did you drive my car away with no key? and he says i dont know but i remember you didnt give me your key..so at this point im fuming because im an hour away from home and i dont want to go get my spare its like 12am. So i argue with him some more i tell him ok let me go to your key room and search for it..i go to the key room and dont see my key anywhere..im like WTF!!!! I argue with him and say look man im 110% sure i gave you my key and my gf is saying the same thing. he replies im 150% sure you didnt...so after that i go inside and get the manager..he comes out and says ok check every car to see if you dropped it on the floor..so the valet guy goes and does all the cars...the manager says ok show me your car lets go see it so we walk to the car and im explaining the whole keyless b/s and i walk up to the car and hit the black button on the and it unlocks!!!!!!! im like WTF!!!!! so then the manager is like you have it on you im like no!!!! we turn around and the valet guy is standing behind us holding it in his hand???? im like wtf dude where was my key..he goes on to tell me that an Infiniti just like mine pulled up after i did and they put both keys together..and the guy in the Black 07 was about to drive away with my key and they stopped him right before he left...so i was freaking out and i yelled at the valet guy for a lil bit and drove off.....whole thing lasted about an hour..so yea i see your point about having to keep the spare on you...i hate VALET!!!!!

anyways the intellegent key is good for people who are intellegent..other than that Valet people are morons

 

He sold you a load of BS. He's not a moron. He was hoping you will go home and get the spare and he in turn will get to keep yours so he can sell it to some thieves for petty cash.

 

Bet this is what happened... I've had this happen in other cars that had a radio transmitter in the key fob. It's the anti-theft system kicking in. And it will reset on it's on after some period of time (30 minutes, an hour, etc).

It occurs when the transmitter in the key fob sends a garbled signal, I've heard that other keys on the same key ring, metal key fobs, etc can cause it.
I had it happen once on a Ford expedition where lightening stuck close right as I turned the key. Took about 45 minutes before it reset. That same car stranded us for about 30-45 minutes on I think 3 other occasions over the 4 years we had it.

 

Damn- I wish that was the case. It's been two days and the fob is still useless.

SPEED- I did ask the wife about dropping it too and she said she left it in her jacket pocket. She would have told me if she had dropped it, or if the baby had.

 

Has anyone taken out the battery out of the fob to see if it still works?

 

I haven't used valet with G yet, but I was thinking why give them the key at all? Leave the car running and tell them how to turn it off with the button and ask them to lock the doors with the button inside. When you want them to go get your car give them the key. This way the key is safe with you the whole time and the car can't be started after it's parked so it's probably a bit safer.

 

+1 ^^^ i do the same thing all the time when i valet! i dont give them my keys because most of them dont know what thier doing.

 

Great idea!

Although as I think about it, can you imagine the frustration for the jockey if it's a manual and he stalls it after you're gone? LOL! (Of course not so funny if your G is just hanging out in the middle of some lot somewhere.

And of course it might be a problem if they do the double parking thing and have to move it to shuffle cars

I was recently underground parking with my '04 Maxima at one of the bank towers here in Toronto that is only valet and was thinking what am I going to do when I have to that with the G??? And wondering if some of these guys have even seen a pushbutton start yet (although I know they're more prevalent over the past few months on a variety of other vehicles).

 

Some parking lots, like some in New York City, have so many cars in them that they may need to move your car to get it out of the way of another car. If that's the case, they'll need to hold onto your keys. Not ideal. I'd prefer that noone keep moving my car around. But sometimes, you're in a hurry and don't have the time to go find another parking lot.

 

so if you lose the key fob how much is it to replace?

 

+1.....that should work.....(if you have to valet. )

C.

 

Put a key on the car.

 

Good ideas for dealing with valet; but if the key is dead neither you or the valet are going anywhere.

Anyone else concerned about a key that fails after 3 months?