I am the owner of a 2013 Pathfinder and a 2013 Altima. If I have both sets of FOB keys on me when I press the start button on my Altima the car goes into battery mode. Will not completely turn on or won’t turn off. The only way to shut the car down is disconnect the battery, wait 20 minutes, and hope the car is completely shut down. Then try again and hope the car turns on. I was told having both FOB keys on me causes interference and only carry the key I need. Besides that being absurd and can’t do that because I drive my Altima in the morning and the Pathfinder at night to pick the kids up because the car seats are in there. So what I have been doing to avoid this problem is taking the Pathfinder FOB and putting in homemade aluminum foil bag so the car can’t read that key. Anyone else having this problem? Nissan seems to think this isn’t a problem.
I like the foil bag.
I once had two Fords in my driveway. I only wanted one key. Rather than messing with lock cylinders and such I had a hardware store cut me a key - one side was cut to one car and the other side to the other car. It just meant that it mattered which way I put the key in.
Anyway - I know that your situation is completely different. But I’m wondering whether you’ve asked at the dealer whether or not they can reprogram the vehicles to use the same FOB. One FOB that works on either car. I don’t know these systems well, so that could cause other problems. But it’s just a thought.
Hmmmm. Something to ask. The whole idea of the FOB key is for convenience and its just a total inconvenience. Just baffled in this day and age this could happen. Thanks for the advice.
Haven’t heard that one before but makes some sense, since each key has seat position etc. programed in. I could see how it could get confused and just shut down. We tried to lock the wife’s purse in our Acura trunk with her key fob in it, and it would not lock, just beeped, because it thought we were locking the keys in the trunk. Some of this technology has maybe gone too far but I like the idea of the foil bag. Maybe someone should market foil bags for key fobs like they do for credit cards.
But the point of the foil bag is what’s absurd. Your suppose to keep the FOB key in your pocket. I have to take the FOB key for my other car out of my pocket and put in foil bag so car starts. ABSURDITY!!!
Wont a plain key work for one of the vehicles?I despise having a whole bunch of different keys,I’ve converted practically every cylinder lock on my premises to take the same key Cig Roller had a good idea on the Fords,keep digging you will come up with solution to your problem(I dont see why you cant get a key fob that would work multi vehicles-Manus?)-Kevin
I’m assuming both vehicles have keyless start/entry? If so, then the RFID signals being put out by both FOBs could be interfering with each other and causing the condition you’re experiencing. Does the same thing happen when you’re in the Pathfinder as well?
I have keyless entry/start on my Mazda and there’s a warning about having your FOB and cell phone near each other.
Your assumption is correct bcar2. It does not happen with the Pathfinder. I had the Pathfinder first. If I was given a warning that this could happen then I would have reconsidered buying the Altima. The whole idea of the FOB key is for convenience and it’s anything but that. There has to be some kind of solution.
The fob has a key inside it. Can u use the key during these episodes?
It does not happen with the Pathfinder.
That’s odd. Considering they are the same model year, by the same manufacturer, one would assume they are likely to be identical electronic receiver modules used in both. Why would one be susceptible and the other not? The Pathfinder is also push-button start?
Edit:
Thinking a bit more about it you would think there is a digital data stream for these advanced FOBs. That should eliminate interference issues. I actually have a good friend that works for the place that makes a lot of the FOBs for various MFRS. I’ll ask him about it to see if he can shed some light…
@Cavell, the fob has a key inside but can’t use to start car.
@TwinTurbo, Yes the Pathfinder is push button. Extremely odd it does not happen to that car. That’s why I think there is more to this problem. Brought car to Nissan 3 times already. Bringing again this Friday for more testing. Any info that I could relay to Nissan would be great. Thanks