When Smart Keys Go Dumb

When Smart Keys Go Dumb

It’s all about the technology these days.

But what about when technology fails you?

I’m writing this as a warning and a heads up…this might happen to you if you have a vehicle with a smart key.

The hubster & I both have cars now that use smart keys.  I think most people are familiar with smart keys, but in case you are not, a smart key is a keyless remote provided in some new cars.  This means you do not have a normal key to start your car.  Instead, you are given what looks like in the above photo.  It’s basically a remote control.  As long as you have the smart key in your purse or pocket, put your foot on the brake pedal and push the start button, the car will start.

At least that is what is supposed to happen.

Up until Friday, this is how I started my car.

Friday I received a message from my car on the panel saying “smart key not found.”  I called hubby to bring his smart key thinking maybe I wore out the battery in my smart key {from my 7 month old vehicle.}  Anything is possible, right?  Guess what…his smart key invoked the very same message, “smart key not found.”  You know what this means?  It means I can not drive my car.  Nope!  My smart keys were no longer SMART!

I’m not going to mention how this ruined my whole weekend.  Roadside assistance came to tow my relatively new, unharmed {not in an accident} vehicle to the nearest dealership which is 2 hours away.  I am very grateful this did not happen when we were on vacation.

It is Tuesday and I still don’t have my vehicle.  Not sure about these smart keys anymore.  Somehow the vehicle no longer recognized my smart key.

DH always likes to surf the net and see if anyone else has experienced what we have.  Thinking of our new car history, we have a horrible knack of having highly unusual things happen to our cars.  It’s pretty infuriating as we buy new vehicles in order to NOT have to deal with car trouble.  {Guess Murphy’s law continues to prevail.}  Anyway, so we found this video which pretty much shows what happened to us, yet we were not able to drive the car like he was.  It is very informative, especially if this happens to you in the future.  If you have a smart key, it might be worth your time to watch this. {Parent’s: before allowing kids to watch with you, I might consider this video PG for language…he uses a few bad words.}


Honestly, this guy cracks me up. I really like how he mentions repeatedly he’s glad this didn’t happen to his wife.  He is a smart man.  My husband will attest to how irate I was when this happened.  {So will the salesman who sold us the car.}

Now, before y’all begin asking me the make and model of my vehicle, I want you to know my intention is not to slam or slander the car maker.  My intention for this post is to make smart key users aware of this possibility.  It might make you think twice about purchasing a vehicle with this technology.

I sincerely hope this does not happen to you.

Consider yourself warned ;),

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