Most modern cars come with electronic door locks that can be activated from a distance using a small signaling device called a “key fob.”  Like any car part, normal wear and tear can cause this to malfunction. If your electronic door lock is not responding, there are several things that could be going wrong.  Fortunately, many of the possible issues are minor and can be easily dealt with by yourself or a qualified auto mechanic.  Read on for some tips on troubleshooting for your non-functioning electronic door lock.

The most common issue with electronic car doors is the batteries in the key fob dying.  If you get no response at all from your car when you press the unlock/lock button, you should replace the batteries in your key fob; they tend to last for around three years.  Sometimes a key fob will only work when you are standing right next to your car door.  Distance issues like this are also a sign of a dying battery that needs to be replaced.  You may need to take your keys into a same-make dealership to be reprogrammed if they continue not to function after replacing the batteries.

If the issue is not with the key fob, there may be something wrong with the door lock motors or your car’s electrical wiring.  Try locking and unlocking your doors while listening carefully for a whirring or vibration sound.  If you hear the sound, that means that the small motors that operate the electronic locks are burned out and will need to be replaced.  If you don’t hear anything, that means that electricity is not getting to the motors so there may be an issue with a fuse, circuit, or wire inside your car.  First check for any burnt out fuses, if you don’t know how to do this there is a great instructional video available here.

Still having issues after checking for and replacing any burnt out fuses?  There is likely some damage to your car’s internal electrical wiring like a short circuit or broken wire.  Wiring issues can be very hard to detect and fix, so you might want to bring in an auto mechanic to solve your problem.  You can use TalkLocal to automatically connect you to a high quality local professional in minutes.  All you need to do is enter your name, contact info, and a short description of your problem and TalkLocal will take care of the rest.

This entry was originally posted on Monday, October 8th, 2012 at 10:00 am and is filed under Locksmiths. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.