Hi, my one key fob has totally died. I have had many cases of the dash telling me the battery was low, I'd replace it, measuring the old one, always still OK.at 3 volts. Replacing it anyway.
Now the fob has totally died, new batteries don't bring it back to life.
Also, with my Mom's 2009 Camry, only 70,000 miles on it, her fob seems to be doing the same thing, not always working reliably even with a good battery.
Is this a common thing or am I cursed?

 

Does this happen regardless of where you happen to be, at the time? E.g., in your garage, in the parking lot at the supermarket, etc.?

Is just one aspect of it not working (e.g., the passive "I-have-it-with-me-so-why-doesn't-the-door-open" vs. the active "I pushed the button to open the tailgate and it didn't work")?

Try separating it from your phone -- and any other "electronics" -- when you try to use it. (some) Nearby electronics can "wake up" the fob and cause it to deplete its battery quicker as it has to determine if it has woken up for a legitimate reason or just a false alarm.

 

How dirty is it?
You can try holding the fob to your temple when you press the buttons...

 

Buttons and proximity both do not work. I have cleaned the internal contacts many times too. After switching to Fob #2, its happening there too. sometimes...usually what happens is I will get the low battery warning, and the next day its fine and it may not come back for quite awhile.

 

Does this happen only at home (one location) or everywhere? Could be some kind of electromagnetic interference.

 

I ran into this issue when I first got my RDX (erratic fob). Replacing the battery and carefully putting it back together worked (I had to do this a couple times). You can easily pinch a contact, have it slightly mis-aligned, and put it together and the fob won't work. The other observation is make sure your cell phone is not next to the fob. It will interfere with the signal. Also one time I dropped the fob and it stopped working. I disassembled it and put it back together. All was well.

IN my case, I never got a "low battery" alert. I haven't had an issue in many months.

BTW, You're not cursed. Make sure you are are buying a good battery brand (Duracell or Energizer) and check to make sure the fob is assembled properly. That's about all you can do. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

Update...I bought quality batteries and the issue is gone, and the same for my Moms Camry keys. Not sure why other batteries gave this problem but they were off brand (ie..brands you've never heard of) but Energizers did the trick.