howie411 Posted January 2, 2018 Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 So today my wife's car said KeyFob not detected on her 2013 C-MAX SEL. Is the battery dead on it? On my FFH it gives you a notification when the battery is low on the keyfob. Does the C-max not do this? And if not short of using the other keyfob or replacing the battery, how do you deal with a situation when you are out and this happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr08 Posted January 2, 2018 Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 If getting into the car and the fob is dead, there is a backup key to unlock it. To start it, there is an indentation in the right side of the steering column. Insert the fob in here momentarily while pressing the start button and it will start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie411 Posted January 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 If getting into the car and the fob is dead, there is a backup key to unlock it. To start it, there is an indentation in the right side of the steering column. Insert the fob in here momentarily while pressing the start button and it will start. Thank you, I will let her know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill-N Posted January 2, 2018 Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 If the battery in the fob is original, then it should be replaced. I'm unaware of any fob-battery-low notification on the c-max. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestevens Posted January 4, 2018 Report Share Posted January 4, 2018 This happened to me twice now both times when I was shoveling snow and clearing the car off with wet gloves, 20F weather. I replaced the battery in the FOB about six months ago with a new one. The second FOB also wouldn't work either so it must've been something with the car itself. I tried to use the emergency key to unlock the drivers door and I could only turn the key to the left and hold it (spring loaded) pulling on the handle wouldn't open the door. It seemed like I could not turn the key to the right, but there's very little to grab on to with that key, it's just a metal "T" shape with no real leverage outside the lock. It tried it both with gloves on and with bare hands. By some unknown miracle after trying for about 5 minutes the car eventually finally registered the ground loop by touching the door handle.and allowed me to unlock, started right up without a problem after that. I have the original 12V battery still, last Ford service as of a month ago said the battery status was fine. I wonder if the car goes into some sort of "deep sleep" mode - the Prius used to have an actual switch by the underside of the steering column to turn off the smartkey radio sensing so as not to drain the 12V if you were parking the car for an extended period of time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestevens Posted January 4, 2018 Report Share Posted January 4, 2018 FYI, if you squeeze the indentations on both sides of the narrow part of the FOB itself the Ford logo decal will pop up enough on the underside that you can pry it up with a fingernail and get to the emergency key that supposedly unlocks the driver's door (some doors covered with a cap to the rear of the handle), but like I said, even after inserting the key in the door I still couldn't get it to unlock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestevens Posted January 5, 2018 Report Share Posted January 5, 2018 (edited) So it happened again this morning (the weather is actually colder today) - I was able to insert the key and turn it to the right this time - the courtesy lights came on and it immediately triggered the unlock command to open the doors. You only have a few seconds to get the FOB near the steering column to start the car before the alarm goes off. I don't know why I couldn't turn the key to the right before, maybe the lock was partially frozen. The FOB works fine now that the car was started and driven. As for why the car won't initially respond I guess I better ask my Ford dealer about a new battery just to be safe. I'm not getting any battery minder notices and once the car "wakes up" everything seems perfectly fine. Edited January 5, 2018 by jestevens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Smith Posted January 5, 2018 Report Share Posted January 5, 2018 funny, my 2013 sel fob battery went out last week. conspirairacy. maybe... :) but I did happen to leave my keys in the car in the garage on the coldest night as well. but fob batteries are pretty cheap... made the change... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve G Posted February 10, 2020 Report Share Posted February 10, 2020 Marc, did you ever figure out what was wrong with the 2013 CMax fobs. I've had the same problem. I've taken it to the dealer twice and will make it a third visit. They replaced a radio frequency antenna and said they fixed it. On the second attempt, they said a wiring harnass in the roof was faulty. Their fix lasted a month and now it is happening again. I believe they are disconnecting the battery while they work on it. When they reconnect the battery, they think they did something but it was simply a master reset that works until it doesn't. Any ideas would be appreciated - other than seeking my money back and finding a new Ford service center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfh Posted June 4, 2020 Report Share Posted June 4, 2020 On 1/4/2018 at 7:47 AM, jestevens said: FYI, if you squeeze the indentations on both sides of the narrow part of the FOB itself the Ford logo decal will pop up enough on the underside that you can pry it up with a fingernail and get to the emergency key that supposedly unlocks the driver's door (some doors covered with a cap to the rear of the handle), but like I said, even after inserting the key in the door I still couldn't get it to unlock. To gain mechanical advantage, one can mate the exposed end of the metal key with the slot in the plastic key fob with the key fob at a right angle to the key. The turn the plastic key fob clockwise to unlock the door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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