This has happened to me twice now so I wanted to pose the question to you guys. Dropped my 2005 RL at the hotel valet twice in the past three weeks and each time was told my battery had to be jumped. The car was a dealer car and I just broke 10,000 miles on it. I purchased the car at the very end of last year and had the dealer put in a new battery.

I frequently travel for business and leave my car in the garage for days at a time and this problem has never happened to me personally, just these two times at the valet. After the first time it happened, I had the dealer inspect the car to make sure nothing was wrong with it. I then had to take it back in two weeks later for normal maintenance service before the second valet killed the battery.

Any explanations? Someone I spoke to suggested I get a service update performed on the car's computer. Why is this necessary and what will it accomplish? Is it the car, two incompotent valet drivers, or strange bad luck?

Thanks.

 

Make sure they're completely turning off the ignition switch. I guess it's pretty common where people forget to turn it all the way off.

When I first bought my car I let my neighbor take it for a spin around the block (I trust him). When he came back he left it parked in front of my house and gave me my keys. It was there for several hours and during that time I was working around the front of my house. Everytime I tried to use my cell phone I kept losing the call (or so I thought). It was really pissing me off. WHat it ended up being was that my neighbor hadn't completely turned off the ignition so it was in accessory mode. Well apparently when I was talking on the phone and I would get within range, my phone and the car were connecting via Bluetooth.

 

Valets probably are not turning off the car completely. I would just go through the trouble of making sure that you remove the knob and allow the valet to use the regular key. This ensures that they won't do something stupid like leave the car in ACC mode.

 

So much for the valet key, I guess? Thanks for the feedback. Anyone know if the service update remedies this and what it does exactly to remedy this?

CandC

 

Not sure what you mean. Were you giving them the key?

 

Make sure that the TSB has been performed that addresses leaving the car parked. I had the same issue, and there was a TSB to correct the issue. It has to do with using the door trunk release in conjunction with turning off the car. I had a dead battery 3 times at the airport before the TSB was applied. See link https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=544

 

I also tell the valets that the car has no keys and only responds to my finger print. They insist I ride on the passenger side, but no monkey business with my car. I keep the FOB and walk back with the to retrieve the car.

 

I meant that the FOB has the valet key that comes off. You keep the key since it locks/unlocks the glove compartment and therefore the trunk and they keep the FOB which locks/unlocks/starts the car. Giving them the actual key renders Acura's valet key concept moot.

Anyway, again, I appreciate everyone's comments. I will speak to Acura about this to help resolve the issue and will, in the meantime, make sure valets turn the car off.

CandC

 

Tell them that they have to make sure the steering wheel moves all the way down when they turn it off. If it doesn't, it's not off.

The '06's display a warning with a little graphic telling you to turn the knob all the way down.

The valets near me see too many RL's and Lexus to be fooled by the "fingerprint" thing, lol.

I do, however, often have problems getting my car BACK from the valets, because it seems to take forever for them to figure out the Keyless system. I might just make a note to hang off my rear view mirror telling them how to start the damn car....

 

That still doesn't answer anything. As has been said, if they don't completely turn the knob off (key or no key) the car is on and the battery can be drained.

 

I think we need a separate thread just on how to handle this valet problem. I for one do not want to give my car to a valet after my first experience.
We need a list of helpful hints .
One I heard was to buy a blank key to insert in the remote because if you give the valet the remote they do not have a way to hang it in their key rack. Acura never thought of this. What is the valet to do? Leave the remote in the car?? Well they do that and in some cases simply lost the remote. The blank key left in a remote lets them have something to hang the remote with. I think I heard a smart valet had to tape the remote to the receipt since he had nothing to hang on to it.
Again, I think a separate thread on this is warranted, It is a REAl problem for me to give my car to a valet!

 

Umm...not if the knob is popped out the valet is using the key to turn the ignition cylinder...

 

I don't remember reading that the knob is popped out.

I must be dense since I still don't quite understand the situation.

is it.....

1) She's keeping the actual key and is giving the valet the FOB

or

2) She's keeping the FOB and is leaving the key with the valet

If it's 1, then it's very possible that the valet is not completely turning off the ignition switch and leaving it in ACCESSORY mode.

 

if you give the valet the key, you are not actually giving him the 'valet' option since the key locks the glove box, and that also locks the trunk.
When the trunk is selected to the off position, and you lock the glove box, even the remote wont open the trunk, so the valet key IS the fob minus the key.

 

Exactly. That's why I'm so confused with what she's saying.

 

I had a problem this weekend, the valet at the Taj Mahal in AC gave the car back to me, but lost the fob inside the car -- they ask us to leave keyless fobs (they get a lot of them there) in the center console, so I had put mine in the cupholder.

When I got to my next destination, the fob wasn't in the cupholder. The car wouldn't lock, so I know it wasn't OUTSIDE the car...I could turn the car off and restart it, and it didn't have the "no keyless remote" fit when I got out of the car and closed the door.

Twenty minutes of fishing around on the floor of a black RL interior, at night, with a flashlight looking for a black key fob.....found it wedged under the passenger side seat rail, it had fallen between the seat and the console and slid under the rail, making it nearly impossible to see.

I was cursing that valet the entire time.

By the way, with the RL fobs, they take the fob and put it in a little plastic bag that is stapled to the card. They do the same thing with Lexus and Mercedes keys.

 

just so everyone knows, you can still lock the car with the FOB inside.
The car will allow you to lock the doors with the KEY from the drivers door even with the FOB in the car, even if the car is running.
Just an FYI.

 

So a valet service parks your car when you don't want them to, offers a security risk for items in your car, disables your car due to a lack of knowledge, loses the FOB and screams off into the parking lot a full throttle scuffing the tires at every corner? For all that you have to pay him (sometimes a mandatory fee) and then he expects a tip!

 

Yeah, but if the key is IN the fob, it doesn't help much...... I didn't have anything in the trunk or glovebox except my insurance card and the owner's manual.... so I didn't bother setting the valet switch or locking the box.

 

But if you have the 'other' FOB with the key, it does because you can at least lock the car with that key.
Heck, I always make a spare key of every car (including this one that is matched to the transponder on the anti-thef) as a just in case I lose my key and I cant find the other FOB.

 

Being a single guy, the other key was sitting in a drawer in my kitchen. I suppose I could have driven home that way, but I was going somewhere else....

 

Did you just get a key cut or buy the FOB too? Do you need to get it done by Acura?

 

I just cut the key.
I had 2 choices, I could just cut a regular 'honda' key that would only do the door (without the transponder built in) that would have cost me $7 and was limited, or I could have cut the Acura OEM key with the transponder, and would also fit in the FOB. I opted for the OEM Acura key, and I did this when I brought the car in for service. I asked the dealer to code the keys (2 more) into the cars computer and they did so without a service charge for that. Each key cost me $40. I thought it was worth it to have a couple of extra jeys in case of 'shit happens'. I didnt think I needed to spend $300 for the FOB as well.
THe car is capable of coding 4 remotes, and 5 keys.
The dealer swore to me that the car was not capable of coding any more than 2 remotes and 2 keys, but I showed him the Helms manual and that was the end of the conversation.

 

Thank you. I ask because my wife lost the FOB and key so I told her that she may now only drive the Explorer! I figured that that was punishment enough!

 

LOL, may i suggest that you cut an extra key and use a shoe lace to make it a necklace for her... after all, Acura seems to think that a hole in the KEY is more important than a keyring hole in the FOB.