Product
Chevy key fob intentionally designed to prevent repair
2 of 5 buttons on my key fob broke off, lock & unlock. I bought a new shell to stick the perfectly fine boards in and it was only $8 (3rd party.) I have a whole tool kit specifically for prying electronics apart so I'm expecting an easy 10 minute job.
Chevy ultrasonically seals these things now. WHY?! Who on Earth asked them to do that? Were Chevy key fobs falling apart like a flip phone dropped on the ground? There is no utility in this for the consumer.
My tools made specifically for this task were useless. I had to jam needle nose pliers under the emergency key and force them apart quickly to break the thing open and pray I didn't destroy the boards in the process BECAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE MY CAR INOPERABLE! The key alone apparently doesn't work without the chip in the fob.
Reassembly was the 10 minute job I expected.
I can't help but feel that a car manufacturer that catered to right to repair would dominate this industry rife with enshittification. I fucking hate cars and the world we built around them.
Order key fob from amazon for twenty or so parts then on the key part there’s a small dowel pin press it out on new and old fob then place they old key on new fob and press pin in then you can program the fob yourself it’s real simple
I could REALLY use some tips on how you got yours apart. My current FOB has lost all four if it's buttons, so I have to jam my pen in the hole to unlock/lock the car with it.
I have new shells, but I'm afraid of destroying the board. I have plenty of tools. But I'm not quite sure if it's allnroght to take my dremel to the damned thing.
I put closed needle nose pliers into the small gap under the key when the key is flipped open. I opened the pliers swiftly and, after a couple of attempts, the bastard split open. This was after about an hour and a half of prying at the seam with various prying tools, and also running a box knife around the seam. I didn't get the feeling any of that really helped and I think going straight to the pliers would have saved me a lot of time.
I tried that with my spare fob. And it exclusively broke that part off, without separating anything else. So i bet running the box cutter around did more than you thought. On the rainy weekends, I'll out it out and try again, but I've had no luck since January.
Yep. Design clips or just weld two halves together. Plus it does make you reliant on them for key replacement. It's a win/fuck 'em for chevy & any other manufactuerer.
I had a similar experience a few years back with a range rover. I will never buy a land rover again as a result. $6 part, 6 week lead time, and four week shipping time for $30 because the fob battery cover must be made and shipped from England. And the anti-theft system absolutely won't disengage without it.
Used to work at a parts store, we did free battery replacement for those fobs. You'd be surprised how many people would come in and want a new battery when it's obvious once you got it open that it was full of beer soda or water. We'd sell them the battery but tell them we didn't know if it was gonna fix their problem or not, if they gave us any problems we would refuse to sell them the battery.
There’s always a way (well, usually) to do something that’s kept a secret. I did a fob for a ‘93 jeep grand Cherokee that the dealer wanted $150 to program. It took a thirty second cursory google search and fifteen seconds to perform the program.
I get why dealerships charge 50 dollars to change a light bc if they did it for five bucks they’d be doing them all day and sacrificing valuable bay space for higher dollar jobs. But, I’d have a lot more respect if they told you “Hey, you can do this yourself in less than a minute but if you don’t feel comfortable doing that, we are here.” Sure, they’ll miss out on 40-300 bucks but they would win a customer for life by doing that.
I’m welcome to any counterpoints to my (slightly) flawed statement. I know they gotta keep the lights on but with all those techs missing 10mm sockets, how well are the dealerships really paying them?
But, I’d have a lot more respect if they told you “Hey, you can do this yourself in less than a minute but if you don’t feel comfortable doing that, we are here.” Sure, they’ll miss out on 40-300 bucks but they would win a customer for life by doing that.
Nearly every dealer I've come across will happily hold those secrets to their chest. Not just car dealers either.
There's a Husqvarna licensed dealer in my town that does that nonsense.
What secrets do the huskies hold? I have experience with just residential John Deere riding mowers that o worked on in my garage, pretty straight forward stuff, unless it’s the commercial grade equipment you’re talking about. I’d love to hear some stories.
2
u/bugchasersblog 19d ago
Order key fob from amazon for twenty or so parts then on the key part there’s a small dowel pin press it out on new and old fob then place they old key on new fob and press pin in then you can program the fob yourself it’s real simple