hello ~ haven't had this happen before, but it appears my car is locked in safe mode. It will attempt to start but immediately stalls out. Battery just replaced a few months ago, and doesn't seem to the issue. Dashboard lights don't come on, but radio says SAFE. Tried to find the code, but though there's a nice spot for it in the manual, its been left blank.

A friend tried to open the car with the wrong Skoda key, then turned it in the door lock to try to open the car, he then got the right key, started the car and moved it about 20 ft. When I went to turn it on -maybe 10 mins later, no luck. We tried disengaging the battery for 10 mins, to try and reset the system, with putting the car in 'on' mode a few times, but not turning it over, but to no avail. Radio still says SAFE, but may have drained the battery a bit as now its not showing the 0000 code. Any ideas??

cheers,

Did you get this resolved?

 

Do you know anyone nearby with VCDS? I'm guessing your friend has triggered the immobiliser by repeatedly trying to enter the car with both the remote and blade of the wrong key. The immobiliser is in the dash and this also has the convenience setting for the radio code too, if I recall correctly. What normally happens is the radio code is stored in the dash and is automatically read back to the radio once power is restored after the battery is disconnected.

 

If memory serves me well the dash can store more than one code too. I was swapping the stock radio for a Columbus SAT NAV a few years ago, on first fit I had to enter the code. I had cause to take the Columbus out temporarily and put the old radio unit back in and no code was asked for. when I put the Columbus back in no code was asked for so the car remembered both head units as belonging to it.

 

I think the immobiliser is blocking everything - the ECU and the Infotainment convenience.

 

As far as I can see you you have 3 options:

 

1. Try to pair your key again to see if that overrides / resets the immobiliser - it's a long shot though as pairing the correct key normally fixes a key that has been used in the wrong car, not the other way about as in this case.

 

2. Find a friendly VCDS owner to see if VCDS will allow the immobiliser to be reset using Adaption. You will need the SKC code (found on the plastic tab that came with the car) for this to be a possibility.

 

3. Local Skoda dealer will be (should be) able to reset the immobiliser. 

 

Good luck!