This car was supplied with the 3-button 'diamond' shape keys (open, close, boot/trunk open). Supposedly these keys have a rechargeable battery that the car charges whilst in use. Our experience with these keys is that they are very unreliable. BMW service can find nothing wrong with them, and upon the last visit, the engineer demonstrated that they work 100%. This does not reflect our findings after driving 400 miles, locking the car, going for a
10 minute walk, and then trying to unlock the car - which failed. Fortunately, on the 5th try with the spare key, it opened. Ok, so there could've been an interfernce problem (but we could lock it), but when we open the car with the key, the alarm sounds and cannot be disabled by putting the key in the ignition. The only way to silence the alarm is by the button on the key. That sounds like a bit of a rant, but I have a question. Is this a typical scenario with this model's alarm system? How long does it take to charge the key?- posted
18 years ago