Paul is an EV advocate, Leaf owner, and Leaf salesman at a downtown LA Nissan dealer. He sometimes emails info like this to those with whom he has had contact over the years. Thought it might be of interest to others with FOB battery questions.
Paul Scott
Dec 10, 2013
9 days ago
All,
Last week, one of my first customers from the 2011 model year called to say her car was not readily detecting the key fob. She had to make several tries to start her car. I had not heard of this problem before and told her to bring it in. Turns out, the battery was getting weak and would only detect the fob if it was brought close to the "START" button. We replaced her battery and the problem was solved.
Two days later, I was contacted by another early customer with the same problem. I was able to tell her the solution. Since then, three more customers have contacted me with the same issue. Five customers with the same problem inside of one week is a lot, so I'm passing this on to corporate in hopes they will send out a bulletin of some sort to all first year LEAF drivers.
Any of you with this problem are welcome to bring your car in for a replacement battery, or you can open the fob by prying it along the seam and replace the battery yourself. The batteries are easy to find at any store that carries small batteries.
Paul