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aluminum foil on a key fob

8K views 22 replies 14 participants last post by  rlb81 
#1 ·
Does wrapping the key fob in aluminum keep it from communicating with the car? I want to take a spare key on a road trip and curious how best to do that. Thanks
 
#3 ·
I've always disabled the fob by holding down the lock button and pressing the unlock button twice as described in the owners manual. I've never tried starting the car though.

I was surprised today when my wife tried to start the Ascent with her fob in this state. When she pressed Start she got a warning message in the center display that said the fob was disabled instead of no fob detected. So apparently, there is still some interaction when the fob is "asleep".

So maybe a RFID bag is better.
 
#17 ·
I'll second this. We pretty much leave our key fob in our car all day long from when we bring the kids to school at 6:30am until we pick them up at 3:30pm...and then all night long if my wife was last to drive it. Zero issues with any batteries.
 
#11 ·
Disabling the spare fob and leaving it in the car is an elegant solution and does not drain the battery. Mine is in my car 24/7.

I have, however, had multiple battery drains due to leaving the tailgate open. I work on my boat and use the rear of the car as a workbench frequently. I finally broke down and bought a jumper battery kit from Costco. I've used it twice in my car and once to assist a stranded motorist (another Subaru :ROFLMAO:).
 
#15 ·
I have, however, had multiple battery drains due to leaving the tailgate open.
There is a replacement controller that doesn't drain the battery.
 
#12 ·
Doesn't the Ascent complain if there is an active fob in the car when you try to lock it? I would assume you wouldn't leave the extra fob IN the car, since it could be tricky getting to it if you lost the primary fob, but perhaps using a code on the liftgate would allow you to get in.
 
#13 ·
I went out and bought the beefed up Odyssey battery for my 21’ Ascent the week I bought the car. Even with that seriously beefy battery it runs down rather quickly from the fob interacting with the car to turn interior lights, rear hatch and doors opening, etc. And I have the stock LED interior light kit in it as well which I would hope helps a bit.

With my 2015 outback I would plug it up to a Battery Tender every 4-6 months and it would usually finish charging in 5-8 hours.
With my Ascent I plug it up every two weeks and over the 6000 miles I’ve put on it it’s consistently needed 8-12 hours of recharging each time I plug it up. And that's when it hasn't already killed the battery.

Now, that’s a very unscientific statement haha, but the point is that the Ascent eats electricity like crazy. I do not take it on any road trip without charging it up first. It’s like it’s a $&@& Prius or Chevy Volt and needs me to charge it up to use it. If I wanted two gas tanks to fill I would have bought a car that told me it had two gas tanks.

But despite loving my Ascent overall, make no mistake, it has two very high maintenance gas tanks to fill. For the MPG I get I would do better in a V8 Toyota on a decade + old platform than I do in my Ascent. I do better in an old 4 Runner as well as in my fathers new 80k Lincoln boat driving through the WV mountains than I do in my Ascent. Though to the Lincolns credit, in Sport mode it handles like a dream. It's insanely impressive given the size of that vehicle. But I digress.

Keep in mind too that Robert M. has some excellent posts on gas mileage here about the Ascent ( and pretty much every other topic- Thank you Robert!) , but it doesn't change the fact that larger volume old school engines do better under load with MPG than higher pressure small volume engines that are frankly only designed for epa numbers and not real life mpg. Body over frame Toyota engineers have some excellent interviews online about this. But who still makes V8 vehicles? Not easy to find.

So- we have two gas tanks to fill.

But these are the sacrifices we make to own a safety forward car at a semi reasonable price I suppose. Can't have everything... So in the meantime, find a good gas station and buy an RFID bag or change your light settings.
 
#16 ·
Hey all, I'll go into detail about the battery tomorrow, if I have time. In case any of you hadn't noticed, I love taking my Ascent into the middle of nowhere to camp, so, I've made sure mine doesn't drain the battery (SoA fix). I'd love to see the rest of you enjoy that ability as well. Details tomorrow (tag me if I forget).
 
#18 ·
When left in a car, it will, unless deactivated or in a faraday bag, allow the car to be stolen very easily. That's literally happened a few times already, with the Ascent.
 
#23 ·
Another solution (mentioned earlier in this thread) is to disable the key fob which is easily done. It's just a small part of this video mentioned in this post, but this is a useful video overall and only 3 mins

 
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