Car owner’s key fob stops working – then mechanic finds problem inside the vehicle and warns drivers over material used

AN EXPERT mechanic has solved a tricky issue a car owner had with their key fob – discovering that the problem was actually inside the vehicle.

Master mechanic Pete took to TikTok recently to show his viewers a problem plaguing the auto-start function on a 2017 Nissan Rogue.

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In the video, he shows his curious audience how the key fob simply wasn’t working – even showing himself repeatedly pressing the Nissan’s remote start button.

As it turns out, the problem wasn’t with the fob at all.

By plugging the car into a diagnostic display, he was able to read the Body Control Module codes and saw that the key signal was being sent.

From here, he went into the passenger side to see if he could solve what the issue was and spotted a silicon cover on the Rogue’s gear shift.

He then removes it from the top of the shift control, exits the car and presses the remote start button – showing how the ignition turns over immediately.

As it turns out, some silicon materials can block an electromagnetic signal and can even contain conductive materials that form a ‘Faraday cage’ that blocks the signal coming from the fob.

However, regular silicon doesn’t interfere with the signal – meaning there was another explanation for the issue related to the cover.

The automatic gear shift in cars like the Nissan Rogue has a button you need to press to move it from Park to Drive, with a viewer noticing that a sleeve – the cover placed over the gear shift – was pressing the button down.

This in turn allowed the gear shift to move, but stopped the car from fully going into Park.

This is why the car’s remote start feature didn’t work.

Another viewer pointed out that the sleeve wasn’t even made for the Nissan Rogue and was actually designed for a Volkswagen.

In many ways, the customer was lucky the issue wasn’t with the fob itself as replacing them can be expensive.

According to Kelley Blue Book, a fob can cost from “$150 up to several hundred dollars” to replace.

Drivers should note that key fobs can stop working for various reasons, including dead batteries, dirt or wear inside the fob, damage to its internal circuit board, or if it loses its programming.

AutoZone, a major car parts shop, even said that even if you take good care of a key fob, it can still randomly stop working – it’s simply one of those things that happens.

This comes as a driver recently slammed their car dealership after they attempted to overcharge them for a simple repair.

Car owner Jax called out the dealership on her social media page, claiming she could do the same task for only $5.

Jax claimed she took her car to a California-based dealership for a simple oil change, where they gave her a price she was not willing to pay.

The California driver mentioned that she wanted to get the bulb in her car’s taillight fixed along with the oil change which bumped up her bill even more.

The mechanic suggested that Jax’s blinker might need replacing, making the simple repair a deeper electrical issue – and meaning it wouldn’t be cheap to fix.

The dealership asked her to pay over $200 for the fix which is when Jax decided to DIY the repair at home.