Help can't open car

[fredgroves]

Thats a user provided part... same as petrol...

[Watts]

Hmm, I didn't realise the alarm would go off and you can't switch it off? Will check the manual and if so will add some batteries to my shopping list...

[colsay]

I think most car drivers know that you need to put petrol in a car to be able to drive it. You also have a petrol gauge that tells you when you need to add more.
There is no warning on a keyless entry car (in a Golf anyway) to tell you the battery needs replacing. And when it does fail your stuffed.
Without petrol you can’t drive so you have a petrol gauge. With a keyless fob and a flat battery you can’t drive. But there is no warning system. As it is so critical I am surprised it wasn’t part of the not inexpensive service. As per my opening sentence, it is well understood that you put petrol in a car but how many keyless Golf owners carry spare key batteries? 

[Watts]

Looking in the manual, page 125 'no valid vehicle key recognised', you can perform an emergency engine start, hold down the brake pedal, hold the key at the sensor on the steering column (where a key would go in a non keyless start car) directly after pressing the start button and the ignition will switch on automatically (and in some cases the engine will start).

It doesn't specify under what conditions the engine will start but at the very least the alarm should stop if the ignition switches on?

[Watts]

Page 71 - 'switching off the alarm' - on vehicles with keyless access: grip the door handle (the unlocking sensor).

If anyone can confirm this and the details in my previous post I'd be grateful.

[Watts]

The eighth post down covers it:

https://www.vwroc.com/forums/topic/33174-no-key-fob-battery-warning/

[colsay]

I have found the same paragraphs in my handbook (Edition 11.2017) , some on different pages but same text.
With regard to p71 about gripping the door handle to silence the alarm, I certainly gripped it to enter the car (maybe not long enough?) but the alarm kept going.
As per the previous post from Watts, the vwroc forum seems to confirm what is in the handbook. So that is “correction”, “prevention” is regular changing of key fob battery plus carry spares.

[Watts]

I will be picking up a spare battery on my next shopping trip. All seems good at the moment though, the light on the fob is nice and bright.

[Talk-torque]

Just a thought on why some new batteries don’t work. The current flow in these devices is very low, which means that the contacts between the battery and the device must be totally clean. Ideally, when a new battery is fitted, the area where it makes contact shouldn’t be touches and it helps to give the contacts a scraping with a blade of some sort.

It is possible that the short life of some batteries is also due to slight corrosion at the contacts, maybe if the key is kept in hot, moist conditions, or was contaminated when the original battery was inserted. Don’t know, could be rubbish. Anyway, never had trouble with mine and love keyless, especially with the ability to disable it when necessary.

[Rudedog]

The earliest to can get my 'car' booked into my dealers to investigate (2 day booking) my recent dead key-fob is the first week of Jan'21, I won't be surprised if they just put a new battery in and say it's fixed, mine just died one morning after using it just two minutes before.

I both of the batteries I tried registered a good voltage when I checked using a multimeter, so I'm now relying on the second key-fob until January.