To further test if its locked the car when you touch the front door sensor you can try to open one of the back doors.  These don't have the hand sensor fitted so if the car is locked the back door will not open.

 

Personally I am (at the moment during the winter and bearing in mind the "smart alternator" only charging the battery to 80%) locking the door with the remote control then touching the sensor to disable Kessy in the "hope" that it might turn off the (car) battery sapping sensors in the front doors (which must be permenantly using power under normal Kessy enabled conditions).  I only take the car out every week at the moment and wanted to minimise the battery drain.  Probably snake oil but it makes me feel better :-). also - if you get into the habit then it eliminates the security concern with Kessy if that bothers you. Of course, I have to unlock the car with the fob but hey ho!!

 

Edited 17 January, 20215 yr by smipx

18 hours ago, DBSurrey said:

 The battery in my main key fob failed after 23 months from new.  My 2 spare fobs (never used) still appear to work after 26 months.

 

That is exactly the same as mine (reported earlier in the thread) - 23 months for the main key ........ and the spare had failed by 27 months ........ so don't forget to check your spare!

Had been ignoring this thread till now...!   

 

Her Golf GTi is 18 months old now & Keyless.  Just gone to it now on the drive and couldn't get in !  No red light on the fob. Managed to get in and move it with the spare key.   After trawling the Golf forum found about the fob batteries failing with no warning. Lucky she wasn't out in it !   Have managed to separate the key and ordered a job lot of CR2025 batteries as spares.

 

I'm guessing that I have got these issues to come with the Karoq soon.....

 

.

Edited 22 January, 20215 yr by Phil245

Hi fellow frustrated Skoda owners. I finaly ended up taking my Karoq to the dealer to investigate the varied key and Kessey locking issues ive been experiencing. The result of my visit was pretty much what i expected, and what many of you have experienced. The conclusion was that according to the service technician the batteries were at fault.

Strange since i put brand new ones in the key fobs b4 handing my car over to them. There argument is that batteries i put in were not genuine and of poor quality ( wonder what Duracell would make of that statement? ) so its back to the user manual and start from scratch and reprogram the fobs i think. 

Wish me luck??

I took my car (registered Jan 2018) which I bought last June (i.e. June 2020) for a 2 year service at my local Skoda dealer 2 weeks ago. On collection they said they has replaced the battery in the keyfob which I was surprised at (until I just started reading this forum).

I explained that I had given them the 'spare' key which I hadn't used at all so can only have been in use, by the previous owner, for a maximum of 14 months as the dealer I had purchased it from had had it in stock since March (i.e. just before 1st lockdown).

It was surprising that the battery had needed replacing so soon as my previous vehicle, a 2011 Nissan XTrail Tekna, had Kessy and in 8 years I'd only changed both fob batteries twice.

They advised alternating the use of the 2 Karoq fobs monthly as this would maximise the battery life

Can't see how alternating key fobs would do that if they are repeatedly sending out a signal to the car,  I suspect there is a lot of variability in battery life, even with so-called top brand names (they are cloned in China and appear on ebay and elsewhere).  The first battery I had with the new car was a Panasonic which was the only one I used from new - it lasted 23 months.  The second was a Varta (ex Screwfix) which lasted 16 days !  The third was also a Varta from the same bubblepack which has so far lasted 2 months.

As I said above, her Kessy Golf failed at 18 months and 2700 miles (yes!) from new.   We started using the spare fob but unbelievably that failed the next day as well.  There is a way of getting into the car and starting it with a failed fob, worth knowing....

 

Two new Panasonic CR2025's arrived last night and I fitted them this morning, both fobs working as normal now.

 

The consensus on that forum is they should be changed annually on Kessy cars.

 

I've bought a job lot this morning on Amazon, they are as cheap as chips, and will just change them regularly now on both cars.

 

As has been said elsewhere......Keyless - solves a problem I never had....!

Later cars have the keys go to sleep 15 mins after the last movement to extend battery life. It is also a security improvement as a car thief can't use a signal booster to take the signal from the house to the car otherwise out of range.

If you have a later MY20 or 21 car best bet is to keep keys stationary somewhere rather than in your pocket to extend the battery life.

My karoq key transponder was ok up to this morning but today it just died and I couldn’t start the car in any mentioned way, no response and just a message to say no key detected, fitted a new battery (CR 2025) now back in service 👌 there was no warning at all, i will be keeping a spare battery in the car from now on so I don’t get caught out in the future. This has been my first problem with the car from new.

I had a replace key battery message this morning so did just that with a Duracell 2025 cell which the packaging said was good till 2025 except I suspect it was a bit on the flat side. Fortunately I have lots of 2032's which I popped in and it worked straight away. While fiddling with the duff battery before I realised it was a bit flat I also experienced the alarm going off while opening the door with the key, happy to have done it at home as if I ever need to open with the key in the lock again I'll know what to do. Off to order some 2025's. At the last service the Garage said to replace the batteries but in every car I've owned they always lasted for ever I didn't bother but it seems like they are only good for 2 years.

1 hour ago, SurreySlowCoach said:

....... but in every car I've owned they always lasted for ever I didn't bother but it seems like they are only good for 2 years.

 

Yep, my Golf, coming up for 11 years / 100,000 miles, both fobs still going, the Karoq lasted 20 months / 6500 miles. That Kessy system sure does use the charge.

Is this on the pre my20 cars where the key does not go into not standby after being left stationary for a period? Hopefully improved system will extend battery life?

5 hours ago, Berisford said:

 

Yep, my Golf, coming up for 11 years / 100,000 miles, both fobs still going, the Karoq lasted 20 months / 6500 miles. That Kessy system sure does use the charge.

Kessy sends a ping at intervals to check for proximity,  and if you let the key get cold (outside pocket on a coat etc in winter) then battery seems to die much faster 

 

The old (press a button) ones only used battery when the button was used, so would last many years

Surely not when on standby after not moving key for 15 mins? I keep mine in cupboard unless actually using car

An Interesting experience my Karoq just provided me with - I went to open the boot but couldn`t then noticed no warning light on the remote the Karoq has only completed 5K miles in 18 months anyway got my spare key which was OK so deduced the battery needed replacing but no warning it had worked OK the day before anyway I had a supply of CR2025 batteries so changed the battery but remote still not working so tried another new battery but still not working so took the battery out of the working spare remote which was unused but that made no difference so decided the remote must be at fault so a quick trip to the Skoda dealer to be informed that I would have to buy a new battery from them to check the remote was faulty before they would do anything, I pointed out that I had just tried two new batteries and the battery out of the unused spare remote but none had worked so the service rep` took my remote into the workshop and after 10 minutes came back with the remote now working and said they had just fitted a new battery and it was OK now.

 

So they charged me £5.10p for the new battery which appeared to be better than Panasonic, and Duracell which I already had both within a long user date I returned home and just out of curiosity checked what this better battery was - it was just a cheapy no name CR2025 you know the sort £2.50 for a card of 10.

 

Apart from the nice little earner for the dealer what happened there then?

 

 

 

My wife and I had exactly the same experience as you described...same everything... The ones I tried were new well in date Duracell and also the battery in the spare fob which worked fine in it wouldn't work in the main key.  Same thing, took it to dealer who took it away in the back to fit the battery - hey presto! and she had to pay top dollar for a new battery. 

20 minutes ago, Delanor said:

So they charged me £5.10p for the new battery which appeared to be better than Panasonic, and Duracell which I already had both within a long user date I returned home and just out of curiosity checked what this better battery was - it was just a cheapy no name CR2025 you know the sort £2.50 for a card of 10.

 

 

Make sure that you have a spare battery (or key) at the ready - the no-name cheapy that my dealer used, lasted just 3 months.

It looks like the Kessy key battery is a bit of a problem, mine gave up January 25 but as I was close to my dealership I phoned them and the manager came out to me and replaced the battery FOC and car was back in use. It’s been ok since but I now carry a new spare in the car and if I have a long trip I also take the spare key with me in the wife’s bag just in case. I think it’s a good idea to replace the batteries annually at least, I was a workshop technician for a Vauxhall dealership for many years and Austin Rover technician before that and we always replaced all remote key batteries every year as part of the annual service, we never had regular customers with key battery failure but passing customers did come in at times with keys not working. The problem may increase as the winter temperatures drop.

As I see its a cheap battery I just bought a card of 6 Panasonic CR2025 mind you that is no guarantee they are the genuine article and not copies.  

 

I also own an RX-8 and we know that cheap Chinese counterfeit ignition coil packs in Mazda packaging are out there on sale and a Mazda dealer was caught out selling these as the genuine article the giveaway used to be they were a lot cheaper but the counterfeiters have got wise to that and upped the price! 

My batteries of choice are VARTA CR2025 that I buy from a reliable source.

 

My Aug 2019 Karoq gave me the key battery low warning last week for the first time. Replaced the fob battery going by the book procedure with a new Kodak CR2025 dated 01/2028 and showing 3.3V off load. Didn't work. Tried again, numerous times and eventually it worked. When happy it was ok I did the spare key (actually I use them alternately) with another battery from the same pack. Didn't work; rinse and repeat; no joy. Went to supermarket, got some Energizer brand CR2025s and finally got the spare key to work ok. Next day: main key wouldn't work again. Replaced the new Kodak battery with another new Energizer and it worked. Why the hell are these fobs so fussy? And I wonder if at least some of the fob problems reported above could have been solved with a change of battery?

 

PS I hate the KESSY and disable it every time I leave the car, plus use Faraday pouches and a steering wheel lock (back to the 1970s). Means a button press is always needed to unlock the car. But AIUI the fobs will consume juice whether used or not, so I don't think my habit shortens battery life - not bad at two years anyway.

Hi RobinH, I agree the KESSY remotes seem a bit sensitive about the battery make, mine just gave out one cold day after driving for about 3 minutes, a message just popped up saying “no key detected” and when I stopped shortly after to pick up my click and collect shopping at my local Tesco store the car would not start, no response at all, I phoned my local dealership and the manager said it’s definitely the battery and came out to me and replaced the battery and it started working again! I haven’t had any more problems with it since but I now keep a spare battery in the car just in case. I know the staff and the workshop technicians at the dealership personally so I will have a chat with them next time I’m there about the remote unit battery issue and reply to let everyone know what they recommend.

might be a specific routine when the battery is changed?

Your car may be the MY20 spec where the key stops transmission after being left stationary for I believe 15 minutes. This change was to prevent car theft by picking up the continued transmission and sending to another unit at the car outside your house?

Edited 6 September, 20214 yr by kenfowler3966

Mine is a MY19 that doesn’t have that functionality I believe 

1 hour ago, Gapp said:

Mine is a MY19 that doesn’t have that functionality I believe 

It is as changed part way through MY19 so you may have it