Car completely non-responsive

[Tesla2.0]

See the image below, hopefully that comes through. It is a little deceptive as you have to pull the three retainers in the bottom corner of the wheel well to get a view of this. Then you have to remove the same type of plastic connectors from the wire tabs themselves to access them for a jump.

Because of the positioning of the car I had to connect two sets of jumper cables to reach my ICE vehicle with its 12v. The doors unlocked immediately when I made that connection.

The only tools really needed are a small flat head screwdriver and a flashlight (easiest with a headlamp) because visibility inside the wheel well is tough.

The second battery is in the trunk. On the right hand side, under the triangle section - the mirror to the storage of the charger on the left. You just peel back the triangle section of the liner to reveal the battery. That one I was not willing to jump as the positive terminal had no real spot to connect to with my large grip jumper cables.

Some sort of small 12v charger with alligator clip connectors would be a much easier way to resolve this than what I ended up doing.

Excellent explanation. I bookmarked this in case I needed in the future. This is the reason I kept coming back to this forum to pick up more info.

 

[WJA]

I had an interesting experience yesterday when I went to an afternoon play with my daughter and parked in a covered parking garage. First of all, I left my cell phone plugged into the car charger & my daughter forgot her cell at home. I also changed wallets and did not have my valet card in this wallet. After the play, the car was completely non-responsive with my key fob. Not having my cell phone or valet card I was starting to get worried. Then I asked a stranger in the parking garage to use his cell phone to call my wife. Luckily, she was home (about 10 miles away) and was able to unlock the doors with her cell phone. Small miracles do happen. Lessons learned from this experience:
1- Do not leave your cell phone in the car when you leave. It would be nice if Lucid would have a beeping sound to let you know your cell phone was left in the car kind of like when you don't fasten your seat belt; and
2- Do not leave home without you valet card tucked into your wallet for back-up.

I called the Lucid tech support and they asked me if the battery was dead in the key fob and I said no as I just replaced the battery when we were on the phone call. They told me that fob must have died and they would put in a service ticket for a new one. I have an appointment early next week to get a new fob.

 

[hydbob]

I had an interesting experience yesterday when I went to an afternoon play with my daughter and parked in a covered parking garage. First of all, I left my cell phone plugged into the car charger & my daughter forgot her cell at home. I also changed wallets and did not have my valet card in this wallet. After the play, the car was completely non-responsive with my key fob. Not having my cell phone or valet card I was starting to get worried. Then I asked a stranger in the parking garage to use his cell phone to call my wife. Luckily, she was home (about 10 miles away) and was able to unlock the doors with her cell phone. Small miracles do happen. Lessons learned from this experience:
1- Do not leave your cell phone in the car when you leave. It would be nice if Lucid would have a beeping sound to let you know your cell phone was left in the car kind of like when you don't fasten your seat belt; and
2- Do not leave home without you valet card tucked into your wallet for back-up.

I called the Lucid tech support and they asked me if the battery was dead in the key fob and I said no as I just replaced the battery when we were on the phone call. They told me that fob must have died and they would put in a service ticket for a new one. I have an appointment early next week to get a new fob.

If you had the mobile key setup on your phone, you could just push the door handle in and it should have unlocked your car. Also, you can use the fob like the valet card where you hold it to the pillar and push the handle at the same time to unlock your car.

 

[WJA]

Thank you for those great tips. I will try that in the future. Why don't they make those tips readily available via Lucid? Thank goodness for the Lucid Owners Forum!!!!!

 

[digiboxer]

Is there an online video tutorial that walks owners thru stuff like this?

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Is there an online video tutorial that walks owners thru stuff like this?

No. Your DA should ideally show you. Mine showed me the valet card and push handle to entry, but didn't show me that the key fob could be used the same way, and I didn't know about it until this moment. By coincidence we have some friends from Seattle staying with us and and between their kids and mine, not everyone would fit into my wife's Subaru and I had to work, so I let my friend borrow the Lucid Thursday so they could get around together. When I got home I asked if he had any trouble with the car and he was in a total panic because the car was alerting that the Fob battery needed to be replaced, but luckily they'd made it home before it died (I'd replaced the battery in my fob but forgot about the one in the second fob!). So I switched the battery and all was fine, but I should have given him the valet card as a backup but I just didn't think of it. But now I can just use the nearly dead fob to open the car, so that's handy. Moral of the story, if you let anyone else drive your car, make sure the backup fob has a good battery, put backup batteries in the glovebox like I do, also give them one of the valet cards, and also don't leave your mobile key phone in the car, and tell them not to leave the fob in the car. That complicated list of contingency planning should scare them enough to make them never want to borrow your car again hahahaha.

 

[daydreamer223]

No. Your DA should ideally show you. Mine showed me the valet card and push handle to entry, but didn't show me that the key fob could be used the same way, and I didn't know about it until this moment. By coincidence we have some friends from Seattle staying with us and and between their kids and mine, not everyone would fit into my wife's Subaru and I had to work, so I let my friend borrow the Lucid Thursday so they could get around together. When I got home I asked if he had any trouble with the car and he was in a total panic because the car was alerting that the Fob battery needed to be replaced, but luckily they'd made it home before it died (I'd replaced the battery in my fob but forgot about the one in the second fob!). So I switched the battery and all was fine, but I should have given him the valet card as a backup but I just didn't think of it. But now I can just use the nearly dead fob to open the car, so that's handy. Moral of the story, if you let anyone else drive your car, make sure the backup fob has a good battery, put backup batteries in the glovebox like I do, also give them one of the valet cards, and also don't leave your mobile key phone in the car, and tell them not to leave the fob in the car. That complicated list of contingency planning should scare them enough to make them never want to borrow your car again hahahaha.

I'm wondering how the fob batteries are dying so quick? I have fobs that are 10 years old and never needed to replace the fob or the batteries...

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I'm wondering how the fob batteries are dying so quick? I have fobs that are 10 years old and never needed to replace the fob or the batteries...

Replaced batteries don't seem to die quickly, it's only the originals from the factory so far, unless other owners have found them to drain new replaced batteries quickly.

 

[WJA]

The fob batteries are CR2032 and are off the shelf batteries available everywhere.

 

[hydbob]

Replaced batteries don't seem to die quickly, it's only the originals from the factory so far, unless other owners have found them to drain new replaced batteries quickly.

Second this, first one died after 3 weeks. Replaced it and haven't had an issue since.

 

[pam4_AGT]

If you had the mobile key setup on your phone, you could just push the door handle in and it should have unlocked your car. Also, you can use the fob like the valet card where you hold it to the pillar and push the handle at the same time to unlock your car.

I believe a dead keyfob needs to be placed below the camera on the pillar, whereas the valet card goes above the camera. Is that right?

 

[digiboxer]

No. Your DA should ideally show you. Mine showed me the valet card and push handle to entry, but didn't show me that the key fob could be used the same way, and I didn't know about it until this moment. By coincidence we have some friends from Seattle staying with us and and between their kids and mine, not everyone would fit into my wife's Subaru and I had to work, so I let my friend borrow the Lucid Thursday so they could get around together. When I got home I asked if he had any trouble with the car and he was in a total panic because the car was alerting that the Fob battery needed to be replaced, but luckily they'd made it home before it died (I'd replaced the battery in my fob but forgot about the one in the second fob!). So I switched the battery and all was fine, but I should have given him the valet card as a backup but I just didn't think of it. But now I can just use the nearly dead fob to open the car, so that's handy. Moral of the story, if you let anyone else drive your car, make sure the backup fob has a good battery, put backup batteries in the glovebox like I do, also give them one of the valet cards, and also don't leave your mobile key phone in the car, and tell them not to leave the fob in the car. That complicated list of contingency planning should scare them enough to make them never want to borrow your car again hahahaha.

Wow…that’s going to take some getting used too…at least for me. I’ve never locked our cars when they’re in the garage and we’re home….will that be a problem/issue?

 

[Bunnylebowski]

You don’t have to lock them because it will auto lock, unless you leave the fob or your phone aka mobile key in the car. Then you could potentially make a thief very happy.

 

[digiboxer]

You don’t have to lock them because it will auto lock, unless you leave the fob or your phone aka mobile key in the car. Then you could potentially make a thief very happy.

Thx…my problems began with the advent of the fob era…if I keep in a pocket it never ends up in the the car when I get back in the next day…so back into the house frisking pant pockets, etc.

The best solution is just to leave the fob in the car when it’s parked in a totally safe place (ie our garage). Point is I hope I can do this with Air and not worry I’m draining battery, causing need to reboot, etc

 

[Sandvinsd]

Thx…my problems began with the advent of the fob era…if I keep in a pocket it never ends up in the the car when I get back in the next day…so back into the house frisking pant pockets, etc.

The best solution is just to leave the fob in the car when it’s parked in a totally safe place (ie our garage). Point is I hope I can do this with Air and not worry I’m draining battery, causing need to reboot, etc

We do that with our other cars (leave the Fobs in the car) but don’t with the leaf.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Thx…my problems began with the advent of the fob era…if I keep in a pocket it never ends up in the the car when I get back in the next day…so back into the house frisking pant pockets, etc.

The best solution is just to leave the fob in the car when it’s parked in a totally safe place (ie our garage). Point is I hope I can do this with Air and not worry I’m draining battery, causing need to reboot, etc

Put a dish by the door that keys/fobs go into. Problem solved. Back when we had physical keys everyone would think you were crazy if you’d leave your keys in your car. What happened? The only difference is fobs have a different shape than a key ring. So if you go out to dinner or to a store you also leave the fob in the car? I just don’t understand, because if your fob is always on you (pants pocket, purse, whatever) then you never have to take it out while you’re in the car, and never risk leaving it in the car by accident, and you’re worry free with no inconvenience. But if you do it the “I must leave my keys/fob in my car” way, then you have to remember to remove the fob every time you take the car anywhere that’s not your house if you don’t want your car stolen/broken into, etc, but then also remember to leave the fob back into the car once you get home?

 

[Kleemd]

Definitely be careful with leaving the key fob in the car. The car is always detecting the fob so the battery is being constantly drained. This happened with my Tesla Model X when I would leave it in the car for convenience in a locked garage.

 

[zkhan2]

No. Your DA should ideally show you. Mine showed me the valet card and push handle to entry, but didn't show me that the key fob could be used the same way, and I didn't know about it until this moment. By coincidence we have some friends from Seattle staying with us and and between their kids and mine, not everyone would fit into my wife's Subaru and I had to work, so I let my friend borrow the Lucid Thursday so they could get around together. When I got home I asked if he had any trouble with the car and he was in a total panic because the car was alerting that the Fob battery needed to be replaced, but luckily they'd made it home before it died (I'd replaced the battery in my fob but forgot about the one in the second fob!). So I switched the battery and all was fine, but I should have given him the valet card as a backup but I just didn't think of it. But now I can just use the nearly dead fob to open the car, so that's handy. Moral of the story, if you let anyone else drive your car, make sure the backup fob has a good battery, put backup batteries in the glovebox like I do, also give them one of the valet cards, and also don't leave your mobile key phone in the car, and tell them not to leave the fob in the car. That complicated list of contingency planning should scare them enough to make them never want to borrow your car again hahahaha.

My only concern is that like you and many others, the FOB seems to drain the batteries. Typically a FOB battery should last a year or two. Each of the three times I meet with my service tech, he replaced the FOB battery and also provide me with a set of four batteries on the first visit. Hopefully, the FOB has an updatable firmware and they can someone get the FOB to sleep or go into a very low power state when not close to the car.

 

[DeaneG]

A "fob" is a small ornament, often attached to a chain. "FOB" is a sometimes derogatory expression referring to a recent immigrant not yet integrated into local culture, fresh off the boat.

 

[zkhan2]

A "fob" is a small ornament, often attached to a chain. A "FOB" is a somewhat derogatory expression referring to a recent immigrant, fresh off the boat.

As an immigrant from Bangladesh, thank you for the clarification. I will make sure I use "key" before using this term just for extra, extra clarification. People should understand what is written in the context it was written in.