Key Fob Programming in Richmond, VA

Richmond weather and fob batteries

Most key fobs run on a small coin cell, and cold cuts what that cell can deliver. Richmond's normal January low is 28.8°F, so a battery that limped through the fall may fail to unlock the car on a freezing morning. Summer is hard on fobs in a different way: NOAA describes Virginia summers as very warm and humid, and a fob left on a dashboard or in a hot console ages its battery and can gather moisture inside the case.

Before asking for programming, try a fresh battery of the type printed on the old one. If the buttons work again, the fob never needed programming. If the car still does not recognize it, or the fob went through the wash, it may need programming or a replacement.

Building fobs, car fobs and garages

Newer apartment complexes in Scott's Addition may give residents a management-issued fob for the lobby and garage, and it may share a ring with the car's fob. The two are separate systems. A lost building fob goes to management; a lost car fob is a key fob programming or car key replacement job.

A weak fob can seem dead from across a parking structure. If it works on the street but not from the far side of a garage floor, try it again beside the car before deciding it needs programming.

What to have ready

• every fob and key for the car, working or not, because some vehicles erase any fob that is not present when a new one is programmed
• the VIN, which is on your registration
• year, make and model, and whether the car has push-button start
• where the car will be, and whether that street is posted for weekday peak-period towing

Parking rules for the city are on the Richmond page.