2010 Altima 2.5S. Push-button start (as I imagine most Nissan are by now). The other day, I killed the battery (inadvertently left the ignition switch "on" for a few hours).
Jumper cables in the trunk. I tried to open the trunk using the dashboard button, but nothing happened. I guess this must be an electrical switch connected to a solenoid which unlatches the trunk.
I didn't try the button the the fob, since I figured if the battery was flat, it wasn't going to work anyway.
I eventually folded down the right-rear seat, which let me reach into the trunk to retrieve my jumper cables.
Was I missing something obvious? Is there some other way to access the trunk when the battery is flat?
Welcome to the world of "progress" ... 100 years of car design, 1 giant leap backwards. People not being able get into their vehilces because of a flat battery is rather ridiculous, and a great example of bad design methods and style-over-substance design these days.
If the battery on your key fob goes dead, you're totally locked out of some cars because they don't have an actual key, just a silly little button on the door that communicates with the fob.
The ever-growing over-reliance of electronic gimmickry, especially in cars, has always struck me as an idiotic idea. Even the little driver's seat levers to open the trunk / boot and fuel cap are rather silly (the lever stops working and you can't put fuel in!), but at least you can fix the lever since you can actually get into the car.
Thankfully I have an older car that still uses an actual key for the doors and trunk, but I also have a car alarm, so I ALWAYS ALWAYS carry a spare battery and small screwdriver so I can change the battery in the remote if it goes dead.
JimR wrote the following on 7/10/2012 10:14 PM (ET):
You didn't find a keyhole somewhere around the truck lid, perhaps in the area of the license plate light? It may only be visible by bending over and looking up in that area. That's where my daughter's Lexus has the keyhole.
The flip-side of your problem is equally as silly - people usually just hop out of their car, walk away pushing the button on the remote / fob (or even via normal central locking using a key or internal lock button), and assume the doors lock because they hear a beep and click.
BUT that's not necessairly true.
The small servo-motor on the passenger side door of my car broken down, and although the alarm remote was causing the normal beep and the driver's door to lock, the passenger door remained unlocked (it could be locked manually using the key or the internal lock button). I only discovered that by accident, although quickly, because I have a habit of locking the doors after I get in too and noticed that clicking over the internal lock button on the driver's door had not locked the passenger door.
Moral: Never assume your car is locked - ALWAYS manually check all the doors and trunk / boot yourself before walking away.
snipped-for-privacy@Beehive.co.nz (Buzz Bumble) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@203-118-187-126.dsl.dyn.ihug.co.nz:
no door key? that's really stupid. I've been in places of high-RF that rendered my remote useless,had to use the key to unlock the door. plus,it still doesn't stop theives from using a slim-jim to open your door.
No key at all ... no door key, no trunk / boot key, no starter key ... and yes, it is REALLY stupid and silly design decision. The bigger problem is that it is slowly filtering down from the expensive cars and it won't be long before all new cars are like this.
There's only two reasons I've been able to find out, and both very silly. Firstly it's simply a case of bowing to modern technology and the lazy generation with no real logical thinking gone into it, and secondly it means there's no "ugly keyholes" spoiling the door or trunk / boot panels.
Who needs a slim-jim? You just drive around carparks with a pile remotes from different manufacturers and you'll find one that works. There were letters to the editor in the newspaper here a couple of months ago where people had used their remotes to get in and even start what they though was their car, only to realise it wasn't. (Techincally you can do the same with a pile of keys, but it takes a lot longer and you'll look more suspicious trying keys in every car than driving around pushing remote buttons beneath window level!)
We had the same silly problem withour remote garage door opener. Because it was the same building company that built all the house in this sub-division, they used the same suppliers, and hence all the garage doors use the same remote. With a limited number of codes, it took a few goes to find one that wasn't already being used "close enough" to be a problem. There were a number of times when the gargae door opened "by itself" because someone else nearby had the same code programmed in.
The over-reliance on electronic gimmickry for the terminally lazy is simply ridiculous when a normal key has worked for centuries ... as the old sayiong goes: don't fix what ain't broke.
There's a third reason I realised: sheer greed. The greedy car companies can charge huge piles of money for a replacement remote / fob instead of you simply paying a few dollars to get a spare key cut.
The remote for my mother's car has broken and it will cost something like NZ$500 to get it replaced by Mazda (all she really needs is a new plastic case since the control board inside is fine, but the greedy swine don't sell just a replacement case!). Luckily her car does also have a normal key, so the she simply won't use the remote, and already has a spare key cut in case the the original breaks, is lost, etc.
snipped-for-privacy@Beehive.co.nz (Buzz Bumble) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@203-118-187-86.dsl.dyn.ihug.co.nz:
you can buy replacement remotes(unprogrammed)for many vehicles online,and just swap out the PCB insides. you might even be able to buy replacement remote casings.
I did do a Google search when she broke it, but wasn't able to find anywhere (or at least nowhere that didn't look decidely questionable). Maybe I just used the wrong words.
I just did another search and found somewhere. It looks a little questionable, but at least it's in the same city so I can actually go there rather than just ordering off the Internet. No prices listed on their website though.
The key cutting stores do sell some replacement remotes, but not this particular type.
This Mazda remote also integrates the proper key (it flips-out from the remote like a Swiss Amry knife), BUT it should still be easily replaceable because the section that holds the key detaches so you can get inside to replace the remote's battery. The badly-designed plastic pins that hold the two pieces together are where it's broken and Mazda charging NZ$500 to replace that is ridiculous.
There was basically a plastic clip you had to push down to separate the two parts and the clip has broken off so there's nothing to hold the two parts together. As a temporary fix I tide the parts together with string through the clip's hole, but somehow it worked loose and lost tightness.
Not sure if this will come through, but something like:
Push the O downwards through the hole with a pen or small screwdriver to unclip the two sections. Where the X is the point the small clip has broken (and now missing).
Whoever replaced the battery for the previous owner obviously did a rough job and weakened the clip.
The place I found on Google yesterday seems to have the right one , but there's no prices listed and it may mean getting the key cut rather than just swapping it over. I'll drive over there with the broken one when I get more time, which won't be this week by the look of it.
Google searched a way to open my trunk with the battery dead, found this. W hile there is no trunk key access on the 2010 Nissan Altima, the key fob DO ES have a key. Otherwise, what would be the point of the key access holes o n the driver and passenger side doors? Back of the key fob, there is a litt le manual switch, hold it and pull the part that connects to the keychain. Voila, old fashioned key inside the key fob. Had to use that to get into my car with the battery dead, thought if I could get inside the trunk latch o n the dash would open the trunk, but sadly it didn't. Can't believe they th ought to include the key access holes on the doors, but not the trunk where people keep their emergency equipment for this very situation LOL
There is an actual key. It is hidden inside the fob. Should be a tiny slide release on the back of the fob, push that down and pull up on the portion of the fob that connects to your key ring, that is the top of the actual key.
In the back seat pull down the little armrest tans there will be a little p lastic door, pull it down and inside on top by the speakers there will be a latch that you?re gonna have to push to the side. This will open y our trunk
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