2021 Chevrolet Equinox
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in Ventura County

2021 Chevrolet Equinox Smart Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

Out in Mira Monte, the calls tend to come at the wrong time. This one came on a weekday evening from a woman who had driven into Ojai for work, parked near her rental, and walked back out to a fob that would not respond. Push-button start would not acknowledge it. The door handles were not doing anything on passive approach. The fob felt dead in her hand.

She had already tried holding it closer to the start button, which is what everyone tries. It did nothing. She called the dealer. They told her to tow it in and come back the next afternoon. She had somewhere to be in the morning and that was not going to work.

I pulled up to the lot maybe forty minutes after she called me. The fob battery tested low, not fully dead, just weak enough that the car's receiver was rejecting it on passive approach while still picking it up when pressed directly to the start button under the right angle. That explained exactly what she was seeing. I swapped the CR2032 on site and walked every function: passive unlock on both handles, lock, all five buttons, push-button start from the driver seat. Everything came back.

She did not need a new fob. She did not need a tow. She definitely did not need to wait until the next afternoon at the dealer. She needed someone to show up in the evening with the right diagnostic mindset and a fresh cell.

That is the job. Most of the time it is less dramatic than people expect, and that is a good thing.

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