Car key, remote central locking, won’t open the doors. Where’s best/cheapest to get it sorted?

03 VW Passat BTW.

Best, VW dealer.

Cheapest…. browse Google.

Is it just the battery?
Most fobs you can prise open with a coin, check the little battery.

I recently had to replace my whole fob, which I did through an online shop. Just ordered the kit and changes the blade part over, making sure to not lose the little chip that goes with the original fob.

Just slit the key and put a new battery in it surely.

VW will want an extortionate amount of money.

If it’s the buttons on the fob itself then check ebay for a replacement case. Split the key and see if the microswitches still do their thing, if not it could be the battery as well. I’ve just done 2 keys on my disco for about a tenth of the price the dealer would charge.

It still locks the doors but just doesn’t open them any more??

Had the same thing on my golf. Take the key apart and clean it (Google shows how to do to)then replace the battery should sort it

This happened to my Focus. I changed the battery and that helped for a few days so I opened it up and had a proper look. The connectors that take the power from the battery to the PCB had worn through the contact area on the PCB. I just moved the connectors to the side a little and it has been fine since.

cheers I’ll open it up later and see.

Yonks ago I learned the hard way that if you take the battery out of the key and don’t replace it quickly enough, the key loses whatever it keeps in its memory and doesn’t work. ISTR it was 30 secs then. You might want to check.

VW will want an extortionate amount of money.

Guess again 🙂

My local VW dealer put a new battery in mine as I happened to be nearby and thought it would be easier to go there.

They supplied and fitted it, and charged me the “extortionate” sum of £2.85

Battery changing is cheap but if it’s a fault in the fob- sounds like it- then probably not so much.

I have absolutely no idea if there’s an equivalent with VAGs but with many cars, all you need is the current fob to code a new one. So, you buy a cheap one off ebay, recode that, then attach the new fob to your old “key”.

check the manual, on my old toyota the fob was having issues, there was some put key in ignition, pat your head while rubbing your tummy sequence that reset the key fob.

Battery changing is cheap but if it’s a fault in the fob- sounds like it- then probably not so much.

Possibly.

But I was replying to this…….

Just slit the key and put a new battery in it surely.
VW will want an extortionate amount of money.