I have a 2018 991.2 S Cabriolet that I bought as a CPO car last spring. I have been enjoying it; it's the fourth 911 I've owned.

About 4 months ago, I was running errands on a Saturday afternoon with my 8-year old son. One of the errands involved dropping off a package at our neighborhood UPS store. I parked the car near the store (the store's parking lot has only 4 spots), top down, but the car wouldn't lock. I realized then that my key suddenly wouldn't work. I have Porsche Entry & Drive, and the screen in the instrument cluster said the key wasn't recognized. And when I tried to start the car, the alarm blared.

We took an Uber to go home to retrieve the other key, on the assumption that my key fob battery had died. We Uber'd back to the UPS store, now armed with both keys. Neither key worked. I was getting a little nervous because the car's top was stuck in the open position, the car was not lockable, and it was hot (Houston in July) as my son and I waited near the car while I tried to figure out what to do. I had visions of it sitting out over night in a parking lot, top down and unlocked. After about another 25 minutes or so, upon one of my dozens of attempts to start the car, it started up again.

I replaced the battery in both key fobs but always figured it wasn't a battery issue. The issue never came up again.

Until today. At lunch, I took made another trip to the same UPS store. Parked the car, top down, then realized it wouldn't lock. Wouldn't start. Message said key not recognized. So my car was 0 and 2 against this UPS store.

I went into the UPS store and asked the employees there if they ever heard of cars not starting in their parking lot. Interestingly, they all said yes. They said it happens a fair amount, where cars will not start in their lot--so much so that one employee volunteered that he sometimes tells his repeat customers to park on the side of the building, rather in front. I asked what was the possible cause. They didn't know, but they suspected it was the nearby Wells Fargo branch. I walked over to Wells Fargo, about half a block away, seeing if they had some kind of security device that was affecting my car, and hoping to see if they would turn it off for a few minutes. They said they didn't know what I was talking about (which is probably true).

I then walked back to my car and called one of the three Porsche dealerships in town. I got the service department, and they said they have never heard of a retail business having some kind of device that--purposefully or inadvertently--compromised the communication between the key fob and the car. The service guy did tell me to remove the fake key handle that's affixed to the car (one does this by turning the fake key right, left, right, left, right, left, and then pulling out). He then said to insert my key fob into that receptacle. And voila! The car started. I thanked him profusely for saving my afternoon. I drove the car home, put the fake key thingie back into the receptacle, and now the car acts totally normal--like nothing wrong ever happened.

Has anyone heard of a business having any kind of equipment that interferes with the remote key and keeps it from being recognized by the car? So strange . . .

 

What else is around that UPS store?

A welding shop, radar installation, power substation, LED lights, etc?

Whatever EMF in that area must only be jamming the frequency of automotive key fobs as your phone worked. I had an LED light bulb in my garage that blocked my garage door opener frequency. Figured out my opener was only dead when the garage light was on.

 

Nothing really of note. There's that Wells Fargo branch about half a block away; there's a doggie daycare place across the street; there are is a fitness center nearby; there is a bar, a restaurant, and an apartment complex also relatively nearby (but not immediately adjacent).

The UPS store is a freestanding building, a converted two-story house. It's truly bizarre. It's like a Bermuda Triangle for Porsches (or at least my Porsche). Next time I need to go there, I'll just take a different car, I guess. But I truly have never heard of this kind of situation existing before.

 

Many things can contribute to RF interference. A couple of things that come to mind, the automatic door sensors (sliding doors at businesses). They're a higher frequency (microwave) but sets off my radar constantly. Or, you said there was a bank close by, it could be their metal detector.

With it being entry and drive, your antennas, for outside of the car, are the ones that are picking up interference not allowing the car to see the keys. Like the above post, it could be a multitude of things. It may even be a light you're parking under too.

 

I hear what you're saying, but I would have thought that me sitting in the car, with the key fob within 12" of the dashboard, would overcome any interference. If it's some kind of RF interference, it is really, really strong. (I guess we should do some kind of longitudinal study of those UPS workers' health over the next few decades and see if they've got an extra eyeball growing out of their arms or something.)

 

Oh, interesting! Well, I'm really glad I learned a workaround today.

 

Something similar happens to me on rare occasions. I get in the car to start, and it refuses to start. Get message on MFD that no key is recognized. I take my key out of my pocket, closer to the dummy key and try again and car starts. For whatever reason, communication between key and car gets wonky for no apparent reason.

Good tip to remove dummy key and insert fob key when all else fails.

 

Had a similar thing happen to an older Volvo in my driveway in a certain spot. Had to put shielding (foil) around the steering column area while turning the key to get the car started. Neighbor was running equipment that cause interference so I learned to position the car differently. Also the garage door opener wouldn’t work from that location either. Had to back away from the garage to get the door open.

 

Would be fun to get a spectrum analyzer with a directional antenna and track it down.

 

agree. this is some weird stuff i've never heard of before.

maybe try a modern/higher end radar detector that shows band and frequency with directional arrows?? (my escort redline 360 does this as do many others)

very strange to say the least

 

do you have a GPS tracker in the car? check the battery terminals for any non-OEM wiring (if you're lucky, it's a sloppy install and you can see it). Some dealers install these as soon as the car comes into their inventory and don't remove them when the car sells, even if the customer opts out of the GPS tracker service.

 

Interesting post and discussion. I hope you get to the root cause of the situation. I did appreciate the dummy key removal instructions. Never knew how to do that in any of my porsche's that had entry and drive. Thank you.

 

x2

My 991 is coming with Entry and Drive next week and first thing I always do (where possible) is remove the dummy key... on 992/Cayenne no longer possible I think

 

forget RF interference, it's so much more fun to put the key in and turn it to start the car anyway and that motion connects you to the old-school 911 ritual

 

+1 | Agree with this possibility.