The 2015 VW GTI we bought a
month ago is now at home in our garage. The old Dakota is living out in the
elements so that the GTI can sleep under cover. It’s licensed and ready to go.
Except . . .
Before Christmas, Mike and I drove
into town, and he insisted I “get checked out” on the GTI. “Go ahead and start
it,” he said, and he went on to his shop to get something. Well, it wouldn’t start
for me. It kept saying, “No key in vicinity,” or something like that. My key
fob was in my purse, so I knew it was lying – just being deliberately obstinate
since it knows it’s Mike’s car. Mike came along, reminded me of the correct
technique, and the car started. He got in, and I continued to drive as we ran
our errands. We had no further issues.
Sunday evening I decided to
drive the GTI to the neighborhood grocery store. With my foot firmly planted on
the brake, I pressed the starter, and the GTI said there was no key. What!!?
And that’s when it dawned on me that my key fob was dead! So, I marched into the
house, grabbed Mike’s fob, and of course, the car started. It had actually started
on Mike’s fob with the previous incident. We just didn’t realize it.
When we initially bought this
car, some of you suggested the customer service was lacking. We have come around
to this way of thinking. It’s inexcusable that the dealer didn’t replace the
batteries in the fobs and also check them out. The manual suggests the dealer
should change the battery (of course), but we aren’t running to Post Falls for this
little task. Mike did it, and it works.
By the way, the prefix on the license plate is BFU. Hmmmm. Seems like with a whole alphabet at the state's disposal, they could have found something else. My favorite was WUP, but that number went by the wayside some years back. KW
Thanks for the amusing story. When we were in Mesa, my granddaughter, Karalee, (David's youngest) was admiring the car and how we could do things without having a key. I walked away for some reason, and she tried the door, and it wouldn't open. She told me about it, and I tried it, and it opened. She asked how could it do that. I said "It knows me", and she was really amazed.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I agree that they should have made sure both your fobs worked, and should have replaced the batteries in both fobs. Did Mike change his, too?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Karalee. It seems pretty amazing to me, too. I'm not quite comfortable with the whole keyless thing yet.
ReplyDeleteNo -- Mike changes batteries only when required and tries to get every ounce of good out of them. It's one of his idiosyncrasies.