Stumped by this odd behavior on my wife's newly acquired 2014 991.1 Turbo S, and haven't found a solution via Search. Equipped with Porsche Entry & Drive, but the key fob enables locking and unlocking only *intermittently*. I replaced the batteries in both fobs, and hasn't changed the behavior.

After exiting the vehicle, I should be able to lock the car by pushing on the button on the door handle. Fails to work about 6 out of 7 tries. When I return to the car, I should be able to unlock by just grasping the handle. That fails to work about 3 out of 4 tries. I should be able to lock and unlock via the buttons on the fob, and that fails to work about 1 out of 5 tries. It seems to work better when I put the key fob on the windshield, resting on a wiper, but still does not make it reliable. Also, it seems to improve reliability a LITTLE bit if I take the fob out of my pocket and hold it near the door handle while standing outside the car, but it's not a huge improvement (and reduces the value of this option).

And when sitting in the car, every once in awhile, the car won't recognize the key fob is in the car. I have to hit lock/unlock on the fob, and then the car recognizes the presence of the key. Again, put new batteries in both key fobs.

I thought that the all-around window tint might have been metallic, so had that removed, but made no change in this odd behavior.

Stumped! Next step would be taking it to the dealer to have them diagnose, but hoping someone might have experienced a similar issue and have a solution?

Thanks!

--Dennis
Boston, Mass

 

Have heard others with this issue and their solution was to put some tape on the inside of the fob battery cover. Apparently there is not enough pressure forcing the fob battery to make contact so the tape pushes the battery further down to make the proper contact. It is a cheap possible solution. Hopefully it works for you.

 

is there anything ducttape wont fix

 

I use it on my face instead of a mask - working good so far, but there are a lot of side effects.

 

OP, I have similar problems, but not quite as severe.

My key only works from very close to the car, and sometimes randomly doesn’t work.

Same with the buttons in the door handles to lock, occasionally don’t work. Will get this looked at at next service.

 

Sadly - just tried the use-tape-to-ensure-battery-is-fully-seated-in-key-fob technique, and no success. Today, the door lock button completely did not work; the unlock feature did not work; and I had to hold the fob near the center of the windshield to get the fob unlock to work. And the key wasn't recognized inside the car with the fob in my pocket. GRRRRR...

Anyone know where the antennas inside the car are located, and/or if they're susceptible to damage? Are they just in the cars, or in the doors?

thanks,

--Dennis

 

i tried the facemask tape and my close friends said Im still ugly..Ron White said U cant fix ugly or stupid, maybe both...

 

There are antennas in the doors, (I have had this issue with multiple cars), and when they are not working properly what OP is experiencing is exactly what happens.