I have a 2005 Prius with about 80K miles on it. Lately, I noticed that the SKS sensitivity for locking/unlocking the car is not as good as it used to be. I always have my fob in the back pocket of my purse and I used to not have to take it out to lock/unlock the car. However, this past week or so I have had to take it out of the purse and put the fob really close to the car to lock/unlock. I have replaced the battery of one of the fobs a couple of months ago and the other one still has the original battery in it, but the behavior is the same with either one. One thing I know is that the newer battery was not fresh, as in it was purchased long time ago. Has this happened to anyone? Or, could this be just a matter of the fob battery needing replacement? Thank you for your help in advance!
It's strange you posted this because I noticed the same thing on my 2008 even with fresh batteries in the key fob. It's like the range is seriously deteriorated from the way it was new.
If not weak batteries, it could be interference. The world today contains more wireless devices than even two years ago. Tom
Yes, I often have two cell phones in my purse, but I've had those in the same spots in my purse over a year now, and there were no issues with SKS before. With the same two cell phones in my purse, I've started to have this issue only recently... I (or my husband) just replaced the FOB batteries with fresh ones, and right now the sensitivity seems to be fine. I will monitor it throughout the week and report back
Perhaps it's indeed his magnetic personality For my issue, I'm happy to report that the fresh battery in the fob did the trick. The sensitivity is back to what it was, and now I can be lazy and not have to look for my fob to unlock/lock my car The strange thing is...my husband gauged the voltage in the batteries: original battery in fob #1: about 2.6V new (but not fresh) battery in fob #2: about 3.0V fresh battery: about 3.1V So, I wonder why I was getting similar (or sometimes worse) sensitivity with fob #2... Thanks to all that reminded me to change the battery!
Perhaps the fob battery voltage was dropping under load. Some types of batteries will hold a fairly high voltage even when nearly dead, as long as they aren't loaded. You go to use them and the voltage drops. I suspect that might have been true in your case. Tom
Glad that fresh batteries supplied the solution, for when I need it later. I was afraid the thread was by a tinfoil hat who complained that SKS was impairing his sex life ... but would have been much more entertaining.
