My brother is in town. Rented an R8. Got the message in the title. Can’t get the car to start. Apparently he tried locking and unlocking the doors both manually and with the fob, etc. to no avail.
Anyone know where the “designated area” is??? My google foo is failing :/
EDIT: Never mind. Found the magic spot. Still wouldn’t start.
its usually a spot in the center console
should be in the manual
On mine it was holding the key up to the steering column to get it to start when the key battery was low.
How is any if this less complicated than putting the key in the ignition and turning it?
wearymicrobe said:On mine it was holding the key up to the steering column to get it to start when the key battery was low.
That’s the one, but it doesn’t *appear* to be a battery issue. Car only has 1,700 miles and has been throwing all kinds of bullE36 M3 errors since he picked it up saturday. Tire pressure, bonnet not latched, door ajar, etc. Then it told him the headlights weren’t working when they were, then immediately the key thing. Anyway, it’s getting towed. Pretty disappointing for a $150k(?) car with less than 2,000 miles.
It sounded pretty cool anyway.
mad_machine said:How is any if this less complicated than putting the key in the ignition and turning it?
As long as the battery in the fob is less than a year old you don't need to take it out of your pocket. Door unlocks when you put your hand on the handle, car starts when you press the start button. My wife is terrible about losing keys, I think we wound up buying 6 or 7 replacements over the 10 years we owned our Odyssey. The CX-9 that replaced it has been golden, because the fob never has to come out of her purse.
poopshovel again said:wearymicrobe said:On mine it was holding the key up to the steering column to get it to start when the key battery was low.
That’s the one, but it doesn’t *appear* to be a battery issue. Car only has 1,700 miles and has been throwing all kinds of bullE36 M3 errors since he picked it up saturday. Tire pressure, bonnet not latched, door ajar, etc. Then it told him the headlights weren’t working when they were, then immediately the key thing. Anyway, it’s getting towed. Pretty disappointing for a $150k(?) car with less than 2,000 miles.
It sounded pretty cool anyway.
He RENTED a R8 or bought it. How beat is this car.
Wow, those folks at Audi are impressive. You get the electrical gremlins of a modern Audi and a temperamental supercar in one package.
mad_machine said:How is any if this less complicated than putting the key in the ignition and turning it?
Over complicated engineering for a simple task.
wearymicrobe said:poopshovel again said:wearymicrobe said:On mine it was holding the key up to the steering column to get it to start when the key battery was low.
That’s the one, but it doesn’t *appear* to be a battery issue. Car only has 1,700 miles and has been throwing all kinds of bullE36 M3 errors since he picked it up saturday. Tire pressure, bonnet not latched, door ajar, etc. Then it told him the headlights weren’t working when they were, then immediately the key thing. Anyway, it’s getting towed. Pretty disappointing for a $150k(?) car with less than 2,000 miles.
It sounded pretty cool anyway.
He RENTED a R8 or bought it. How beat is this car.
Rented.
mad_machine said:How is any if this less complicated than putting the key in the ignition and turning it?
because, yo, it's cool and stuff.
On a related note, 5 or 6 years ago I went on a work trip to Germany and rented an Audi wagon to do some Autobahn driving. Get out to the car, and it literally took me 10 minutes to figure out where the hell to stick the e-key in (a little slot in the dash) to turn the car on. I seriously don't understand what was wrong with just using a regular key. I've never had the slightest bit of trouble putting a key into any lock.....
codrus said:mad_machine said:How is any if this less complicated than putting the key in the ignition and turning it?
As long as the battery in the fob is less than a year old you don't need to take it out of your pocket. Door unlocks when you put your hand on the handle, car starts when you press the start button. My wife is terrible about losing keys, I think we wound up buying 6 or 7 replacements over the 10 years we owned our Odyssey. The CX-9 that replaced it has been golden, because the fob never has to come out of her purse.
we have a CX-9 as well, and our vicinity key fob has been pretty glitchy (both of them). Sometimes it doesn't lock the car when you walk away. Sometimes it does. And last month both of them went totally dead (it's a 2013 with 50k miles!). Battery replacement was easy enough, and they do have the "hidden key" in the fob and a "hidden keyhole" under the ignition knob, but still.....
mad_machine said:How is any if this less complicated than putting the key in the ignition and turning it?
It's easier to steal a car if all you have to do is plug a device into the diagnostic port to spoof a CAN signal from the RKE module.
Wait, no, this is also a bad thing.
Rental r8, super low miles, mysterious electrical gremlins...I wonder If this car went for a swim.
Knurled. said:mad_machine said:How is any if this less complicated than putting the key in the ignition and turning it?
It's easier to steal a car if all you have to do is plug a device into the diagnostic port to spoof a CAN signal from the RKE module.
Huh? It's got the same cryptographic security between the ECU and the keyfob that everything has had for the last decade. CAN bus might let you unlock the doors (although you'd need access to the OBD2 port to do it, so they're presumably already unlocked), but it won't let you start the car.
Anything with that cryptographic security is far harder to steal than something that depends on a mechanical key.
irish44j said:codrus said:mad_machine said:How is any if this less complicated than putting the key in the ignition and turning it?
As long as the battery in the fob is less than a year old you don't need to take it out of your pocket. Door unlocks when you put your hand on the handle, car starts when you press the start button. My wife is terrible about losing keys, I think we wound up buying 6 or 7 replacements over the 10 years we owned our Odyssey. The CX-9 that replaced it has been golden, because the fob never has to come out of her purse.
we have a CX-9 as well, and our vicinity key fob has been pretty glitchy (both of them). Sometimes it doesn't lock the car when you walk away. Sometimes it does. And last month both of them went totally dead (it's a 2013 with 50k miles!). Battery replacement was easy enough, and they do have the "hidden key" in the fob and a "hidden keyhole" under the ignition knob, but still.....
I'm not really sure it's reasonable to complain about the batteries only lasting 6 years. :)
In reply to codrus :
This is actually how cars have bee getting stolen in Europe. Just the key fob's signal is encrypted, the network data from the control module that receives that data is not. People make (buy) black boxes that plug into the DLC and send a signal on the necessary bus that looks like that data signal, and then car starts and away the thief goes.
Some people have taken to relocating the DLC because of this.
Not that my 80 something father would ever buy something like an R8, but there are people who can drive but have problems finding the ignition key slot and/or turning the key in the ignition.
Imagine if car manufacturers put the ignition switch in a visible place on the dashboard?
A low mileage Audi with problems? That's almost a cliche.
Mndsm said:Rental r8, super low miles, mysterious electrical gremlins...I wonder If this car went for a swim.
My thoughts exactly. Bet it has Texas as the last place it was owned.
Fueled by Caffeine said:Mndsm said:Rental r8, super low miles, mysterious electrical gremlins...I wonder If this car went for a swim.
My thoughts exactly. Bet it has Texas as the last place it was owned.
That was my first thought as well. Actually, my first thought was “berkeleying hundred thousand dollar volkswagen,” but I was trying not to go there.
This might be a silly question instead of trying to debug the car, why not call the place/person who rented it to him?
BoxheadTim said:This might be a silly question instead of trying to debug the car, why not call the place/person who rented it to him?
Yeah, I'd be dialing the number and saying something along the lines of "Hey, this Audi you rented me is a berkeleying pile of hot garbage and 9 kinds of jacked up. Come get it and bring me my money."
NickD said:BoxheadTim said:This might be a silly question instead of trying to debug the car, why not call the place/person who rented it to him?
Yeah, I'd be dialing the number and saying something along the lines of "Hey, this Audi you rented me is a berkeleying pile of hot garbage and 9 kinds of jacked up. Come get it and bring me my money."
That is eventually what happened, but it was pouring down rain when I posted, and the hope was putting the fob in its “happy place” would get my brother to his next destination.
All good.
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