Bought 2008 RL yesterday. Driver door does not open with fob in pocket
 

Bought a used 2008 RL technology package yesterday. Only one key fob Driver 1 came with the car.
Fob locks and unlocks door but does not open door with handle pulled.
With door open with fob remote, I get message Welcome but not welcome driver 1

I need to buy one more fob and one spare chip key

I do not want to go to the dealer

Please advise

Perhaps the sensor on the handle has given out and does not work? Does it lock if you try to lock it once you close the door from the outside if you touch sensor on the outer side of the handle? Do you see any rust / corossion around the handle? Perhaps water got to the sensor in the handle and that is why it does not work?

I do not see anything else that could be wrong - maybe a fuse or handle replacement will be needed.

I had checked locking as well as unlocking by pushing on the handle or pulling to open. Both sides do not work. What are the chances that both side sensors are out at same time?

Changing door handle for sensor is not a good design. I could live without it. This is where a 10 year old ES350 which never had any trouble appears better.

I will check about the fuse

Yeah, unlikely that both handles do not work at the same time, so it likely some type of fuse somewhere - sorry I don't know enough on what fuse that may be, but at least I think it is pretty safe to say handles can be ruled out.
Also, I think sensor can be fixed without changing the handle, but I know dealers usually go for easy swap of the part route - since they are not paying for the work, but charge for it lol

fyi, my keyfob does not work if it is near my phone or my bluetooth headphones...just a heads up.