Lucid Loaner Key Fob Experience and Lesson Learned

[Murcie]

PSA: If you’re driving a Lucid loaner, take extra care of the key fob—it’s most likely your only way to access and drive the vehicle.

Here’s what happened to me today: I was able to start the car while the key fob was outside the vehicle in my garage. I didn’t realize I’d forgotten it until I reached my destination—20 minutes away from home. I usually don’t carry any keys and rely on my phone as a mobile key, with the key card in my wallet as a backup in case my phone dies.

Apparently, the loaner started even though the key was outside the vehicle—something that shouldn’t happen. But because the fob was in close proximity in the garage, it somehow worked. Bad luck. Unfortunately, Lucid roadside assistance and my service center weren’t able to remotely start the vehicle or provide a working PIN. They did, however, book two Lyft rides for me to go back home and retrieve the key fob—which I genuinely appreciated . It was 100% my fault for forgetting the fob, regardless of whether or not the vehicle should’ve started without it inside, or if there should’ve been a way to remotely start it in a case like this.

TL;DR: If you’re driving a Lucid loaner and not used to carrying a key fob, here are a few tips:
1. Do your best not to forget the key fob.
2. Don’t store the key fob anywhere near your garage.
3. Keep a spare new key fob battery in the vehicle, just in case the current one dies unexpectedly.

 

[LuvLucy]

Good advice. I had a Lucid Loaner last week. On the day the service fellow was swapping it back I pulled the car into my driveway for him (so he could pull my car back into it's garage space) and left the key fob in the cupholder.

Lo and behold when he arrived, the car had locked (with the one and only key fob sitting in the cupholder), and would not respond to door handle presses. Luckily the service fellow was able to whip out his laptop, enter the VIN from the windshield and remotely unlock it.

Crazy that a car will lock itself with a fob sitting in the cup holder, and then be unresponsive to handle presses. This could be a disaster at an automated carwash where you exit the vehicle or a Valet stand.

 

[borski]

Good advice. I had a Lucid Loaner last week. On the day the service fellow was swapping it back I pulled the car into my driveway for him (so he could pull my car back into it's garage space) and left the key fob in the cupholder.

Lo and behold when he arrived, the car had locked (with the one and only key fob sitting in the cupholder), and would not respond to door handle presses. Luckily the service fellow was able to whip out his laptop, enter the VIN from the windshield and remotely unlock it.

Crazy that a car will lock itself with a fob sitting in the cup holder, and then be unresponsive to handle presses. This could be a disaster at an automated carwash where you exit the vehicle or a Valet stand.

The cup holder, specifically, is a known dead zone for the fob. I believe it’s even mentioned in the manual.

 

[LuvLucy]

What’s a manual?

 

[borski]

What’s a manual?

How we switched gears before the invention of automatic transmissions

 

[Steveinarizona]

How we switched gears before the invention of automatic transmissions

"switched gears"?

 

[scal_air]

"switched gears"?

Cut him a break... Borski sold his gear switching Lotus years ago

 

[scal_air]

The cup holder, specifically, is a known dead zone for the fob. I believe it’s even mentioned in the manual.

I thought they fixed it???

 

[borski]

I thought they fixed it???

they “improved it”

 

[LuvLucy]

The car should never, ever auto-lock with the keyfob inside the vehicle. It's part of why I don't trust the keyfob.

 

[Bobby]

The car should never, ever auto-lock with the keyfob inside the vehicle. It's part of why I don't trust the keyfob.

There are occasions when you might want to lock your key fob in the vehicle.

 

[LuvLucy]

There are occasions when you might want to lock your key fob in the vehicle.

In which case you should explicitly do so - through action, but it should never, ever automatically happen with no user involvement. I do not see a use-case for it. Please let me know what that would be. As I said "The car should never, ever auto-lock, with the keyfob inside the vehicle".

 

[Bobby]

In which case you should explicitly do so - through action, but it should never, ever automatically happen with no user involvement. I do not see a use-case for it. Please let me know what that would be. As I said "The car should never, ever auto-lock, with the keyfob inside the vehicle".

surfing, beach, mountain biking, etc.

 

[LuvLucy]

surfing, beach, mountain biking, etc.

You want it to auto-lock when you walk away??? How would you get back in? If you have your phone or valet card with you why not use that to lock it explicitly ? Auto-locking is too dangerous for lockout imo. I agree that those are cases where you may want to lock the fob in, but I just can’t see auto locking.

 

[maractwin]

As far as I know, the car does not lock with a key inside without you taking explicit action. If you leave the key inside and walk away, it will eventually turn off and fold the mirrors and bring the handles in, but it is not locked. If you press on a handle, it will open again. That has been my experience.

 

[OhmMyWatt]

We were also locked out of our Lucid loaner and the key fob was on the passenger seat. This just happened 2 days ago and we were lucky that our service advisor was able to remotely unlock the car. It feels like a bug that the car would not wake up from deep sleep when the key is still inside. We tried pressing all 4 door handles and the trunk but the car would not wake up. The handles eventually got stuck in the depressed position but the car was still happily asleep. The loaner is an OG dream edition so I'm not sure if it is something specific to the sensors in the loaner or if our regular AT also have the same issue.

 

[theEVLife]

Similar thing happened to me. Loaner car w/key fob & key cards on one lanyard, left it in center console & walked away w/o thinking. By the time I came back to the car it was in deep sleep and nothing could be done to wake it up. Mirrors were unfolded so it was "unlocked" but door handles wouldn't pop out, trunk wouldn't open. Unfortunately for me it was a Saturday night so customer service not available & doubly unfortunate it was in a garage that the large tow trucks with flat beds couldn't get in. Had to leave the car there until Monday (Uber home courtesy of Lucid). Pray the car would still be there on Monday (it was in a church parking lot so...lol!) CS was able to remotely unlock on Monday

 

[Batteryman]

Similar thing happened to me. Loaner car w/key fob & key cards on one lanyard, left it in center console & walked away w/o thinking. By the time I came back to the car it was in deep sleep and nothing could be done to wake it up. Mirrors were unfolded so it was "unlocked" but door handles wouldn't pop out, trunk wouldn't open. Unfortunately for me it was a Saturday night so customer service not available & doubly unfortunate it was in a garage that the large tow trucks with flat beds couldn't get in. Had to leave the car there until Monday (Uber home courtesy of Lucid). Pray the car would still be there on Monday (it was in a church parking lot so...lol!) CS was able to remotely unlock on Monday

I'm glad I stopped carrying the keyfob. Never felt like this with any vehicle I owned.

 

[LuvLucy]

In my case (2nd post) it locked and would not respond or unlock at all.

Here’s a fun test, put your fobs, phone and key cards in the cupholder. Close the door and walk away for 5 minutes . Let us know if you wind up calling Lucid (from a pay phone ) LOL to get back in.

 

[Bobby]

In my case (2nd post) it locked and would not respond or unlock at all.

Here’s a fun test, put your fobs, phone and key cards in the cupholder. Close the door and walk away for 5 minutes . Let us know if you wind up calling Lucid (from a pay phone ) LOL to get back in.

You can do this experiment with your window open just in case.
I actually like the way BMW does it better… It doesn't matter what's in the car, if it detects any one of the attached key devices (fob, phone, watch) leaving the area, it will lock. Can leave everything in the car except my Apple Watch and enjoy a swim.