Can Keyless Remote Frequencies be blocked?

[inquisitive1]

Hi,

I have a 2006 Subaru Impreza but over the last 5, 6 months i've discovered at random times I either can't use the remote to either lock or unlock my car. Like some days I come home from work yet I can't lock my car... yet another day I can. Or the next morning I can't unlock my car... or my favorite... I go out to run an errand in under 15 minutes yet when I get back I can lock my car.

 

At first I thought it was just my car but the last three days i had a newer Forester as a loaner while my car was being fixed and discovered that the Forester also had a similar issue but more towards unlocking the car.

 

I just found out today that my Mom's 2006 Tribeca also has the same issue when she visits.

 

At home is the only place this occurs so I'm thinking some new person in the neighborhood has something that's used at random times that interferes with Subaru's. My sister has a CRV and she never has this problem.

 

Has anyone else run into this issue cuz its starting to drive me up the wall! If so any idea what causes it or if it can ever be fixed? I've taken my car in once to the dealership and they found nothing wrong just said 'jump up and down' or 'unlock or lock in a different position' (yeah like any of those suggestions ever worked)

 

Thank you

[86subaru]

kinda of, my garage door opener would lock my car sometimes with the key in car , that was on a 2000 outback

[johnceggleston]

i'd replace the battery in the remote. this may not be the problem especially in light of the loaner car that had the same problem. but they are cheap and it can't hurt.

[CNY_Dave]

Yes, there could be some intermittent interference nearby.

 

I recall there was a neighborhood somewhere, they were all having problems with their garage door openers, turned out to be a nearby military site (forget if it was radar or what).

 

 

Dave

[eulogious]

It could be lots of things... Air waves are funny things. Here's a good example of how one could "block" some radio waves. My wireless access point in my house is a linksys wrt54g that I have put linux on to. Since I installed linux, I am able to boost my signal power and turn on some other options that will basically make my access point "drown out" all other access points due to the high power with the anntena and by turn on or off certain options.

 

So keeping that in mind all it would take would be someone that is transmitting something that is more powerful on the same spectrum to cause your remote to "not work". It could be as simple as someone turning on a micorwave. I had a cordless (home) phone that the reception would go to crap whenever the nuker was turned on. Same sort of thing could be happening at your house or your neighbors house causing your keyless entry to not work.

 

Do any of your neighbors have a big satellite dish or a microwave dish around your house/garage? That could cause it to not work as well. Any type of large antenna could be the culprit.

 

After doing some reading I found out that most keyless entry systems operate in the 300 - 400mhz range... That's a pretty low frequency, but someone could be transmitting something from that frequency from a fair ways away and still have it affect you.

 

Maybe try parking your car in a different spot to see if it's any better? Then you could narrow it down by "location" or at least the general direction that something might be coming from.

 

How far away are you when you try to lock/unlock it and it doesn't work? Are you right next to it, or in the house? Are you always standing in the same general place when it happens, or is it a different location everytime? This might sound funny, but when it doesn't work, try holding the remote up to your chin and try it again. Doing this *should* increase the range of the remote, at least it does for me. This way you can see if the "range" of the remote is just crappy. But this is all a moot point if you are standing next to the car and it doesn't work

 

To me it sounds like it's something environmental that is causing it... Very strange.

[Allpar Mod]

Anything that transmits or receives RF signals can be interfered with. If you look at any of the plethora of devices that utilize wireless signals or the owners manuals, they often have a label that state that they must not cause undo interference but may receive same by an FCC mandate. Low power devices are the most succeptable to interference. They are just not shielded enough to reject it. The trick is to figure out the source of the problem. Still and all, even if you figure it out, there may well be nothing that you can do about it depending on what the cause is.

[Suzam]

The was a Verizon building I would park next to occasionally that was an old telephone switching building. Whatever they had inside would not allow me to use the remote until I was almost touching the hood of my car.

Interference RF can most definitely create a dampening field.

 

You should research the area and see if you could at least track down a source, and let us know what you find.

['84 Flat-Four]

My sister had this exact issue a few years back. We correlated the timing of it to the visit of the USS The Sullivans to Penn's Landing in Philly. It is a guess, couldn't be proved, but it seems plausible.

 

I did a quick search and found this interesting article from '04.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28217-2004Jul4?language=printer

[nipper]

I cant park near taxi stands or taxi dispatchers as they block the signal. I have to use the key to get in the car, and then either hit the fob or turn the car on and hit the mechanic's switch.

 

 

nipper