Beware of the new style key fobs, with the chip located in the key, itself, not the fob piece with buttons. That means only the dealer can replace it, and you can be at their mercy if you want to drive your own car.
The key fobs for our 2011 Nissan Versa only work sporadically, and Austin's Town North Nissan dealership is refusing to replace them. I've had problems for quite a while with both key fobs. No matter which one I carry, it only works part of the time. I discovered through some research that keeping the key fob near a cell phone might cause this problem. Of course, most women carry both a cell phone and car keys in their purses, so this would be a major design flaw and security problem, since it potentially leaves a person stranded with no entry to the car.
I have meant to call the dealer about this problem for some time, but meanwhile have been carrying the key fob in my hand so that it would work better. However, this makes it much harder to keep track of. The other day I lost the key fob and decided that this much inconvenience for a 2011 car under warranty was too much.
I went to Town North Nissan, where we bought the car a few months ago, and talked to the service department and to the original sales person, Christy, at length about the problem. They agreed that cell phones can disrupt the way the items work, a fact that wasn't disclosed when we bought the car. They tested the key fob I had with me and agreed it was defective. After some discussion, staff said their service manager, Greg, would agree to replace one key fob, but not both, since I could only produce one. I explained that the other one was lost in part because I couldn't keep it in my purse because it often didn't work from there.
Even though the service staff agreed the key fob I had was defective, they maintained that - get this - replacing both key fobs (for a new car still under warranty) would only encourage other people who had lost perfectly good key fobs to try to get free replacements.
I was forced to accept their deal or leave, knowing no other business would be able to provide the service. I left. (And just for the record, I did talk to my car repair garage, a locksmith, and two online key fob replacement companies, who all agreed with this assessment.)
I'd like a car with keys, please. At the very least, Town North Nissan should replace both key fobs under warranty.
My advice is to stay away from the new style key fobs AND to stay away from Town North Nissan, where it doesn't seem to be worth the less than $100 it would have taken to keep this customer.
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