[Rouky]

Hi everybody

My Volt is a 2018. Today my Volt seems to be dead. First, impossible to open the doors with either of the fob. Finally succeeded with the Volt remote app on my phone. Once in the car, try to start it, a message tells me that no fob was in the car! A picture in the cluster shows the place where I should put the key of the fob: in the console between the seats, remove the little rubber matt and find nothing to insert a key! Nothing was working, even OnStar.
I look in the owner manual, same thing "insert the key" but no picture!

I call my dealer and talk to a service advisor who tells me to simply put the fob in the bottle tray and starts the car, it works instantly!


What I realized later is that my remote transmitter to open my garage door was in that tray (since I bought the car two months ago) but for a few days I did not remove this transmitter from the tray to open the garage door, just push the button while in the tray. I recall also few bizarre things happening in the last days: car honks when I remove the charger like it was stolen, all windows open a morning, doors difficult to unlock.

I think that something in the computing management of the car has been confused by the garage door transmitter

 

[jonesy9020]

Sounds to me like your fob battery is dead or dying. This is the first, and by far least expensive/complicated fix you could look into. All the weird issues you complain of relate to inputs the fob provides in some way or another. The window opening could be a delayed receipt of you pushing the unlock button multiple times. The car is designed to honk when the charger is removed without the fob nearby (learned this the other day).

Go out, get a new CR2032 battery, and follow the steps at this link.

https://www.youcanic.com/guide/change-chevrolet-key-fob-battery#key2

 

[Rouky]

Thank you, may be you are right but the car is only two months old and did not find both fob.

But be sure that if it happens again new battery will be installed.

 

[Jefferios]

Thank you, may be you are right but the car is only two months old and did not find both fob.

The 2032 batteries both could be junk, I had a cheap one I got off ebay and they were dead a few weeks after installing them.

 

[jcanoe]

Check that you don't have a loose 12V AGM battery terminal connection on the 12V battery that is underneath the hatch storage flooring. A loose positive battery connection or a loose ground connection can cause the Volt do the things you described.

 

[Cord]

on my 2012 Volt you have to lift up a pad to see the HOLE to put the FOB key in the dash tray.

This seems to hold the fob in a good position and not slid all over the tray.

This works like a tag chip in your pet ie it needs to be close and it needs NO POWER ie does NOT need a working FOB battery

 

[wagondude]

For the horn honking when you disconnect the charge cord, unlock the doors before removing the cord. You can also disable that feature in the user settings.

 

[MikeyCVolt]

I call my dealer and talk to a service advisor who tells me to simply put the fob in the bottle tray and starts the car, it works instantly!

By bottle tray, you mean the front cupholder? I didn't know it'd start if you put it in there. If you remove that rubber mat in the center console, there's an outline the shape of the fob where you should put it. When I put mine in that outline, it starts.

Mike

 

[Loboc]

Thank you, may be you are right but the car is only two months old and did not find both fob.

But be sure that if it happens again new battery will be installed.

Both fob batteries are probably the same age and could die at the same time.

 

[flyingsherpa]

Like others have said, look at replacing the fob batteries, but it is odd they'd both be dead. You may have a problem with the RKE system, or possibly a 12V battery issue.

Don't forget you also have a mechanical key to unlock the doors.

 

[TSquare]

Like others have said, look at replacing the fob batteries, but it is odd they'd both be dead. You may have a problem with the RKE system, or possibly a 12V battery issue.

Don't forget you also have a mechanical key to unlock the doors.

I only actively use one of my fobs. The second one stays inside the house as a spare. When the fob battery finally died, I went and got my spare fob only to find that it's battery was also dead, even though it had not been used at all.

 

[jonesy9020]

I think it has something to do with how the disc/hearing aid batteries are made. I remember replacing my Tile (key finder product) that uses a non-replaceable CR2032 battery, and was considering getting a 4 pack because they were a lot cheaper. I talked to the company's reps and they said their one year guarantee would only apply from the date of purchase, not activation, and that when people had delayed using the Tile for a few months, they often saw much shorter battery life.

Very possible that you got two fobs supplied with batteries from an older batch.