Key fob distance issues?

Does anyone else’s tundra’s key fob not work when more than approximately 30 feet away? I’ve only found posts on here about the cargo light being LED which might interfere but mines not even LED. Both key fobs won’t work around the 30 foot range and if there’s any type of wall in between us it won’t work hardly at all. I even have trouble getting the fob to work when I’m in my living room and it’s in my basement.

 

Have you tried changing the batteries in them?

 

Yes in both remotes

 

They have zero range in my opinion. Brand new batteries in both my "21 remotes and I can't be more than 30' away.

 

I miss my old 2002 ford remote, i swear that thing had a half mile range.

 

Yeah I would honestly think there is something wrong with that range.

 

My 2011 Tacoma I had since 2015 had that kind of range and I was very shocked to see my 2020 tundras range.

 

Not sure if the range varies from truck to truck but mine isnt TERRIBLE. It certainly alot shorter than my old ford, but it seems the range is long enough to where I am not cursing up a storm when i try to use it lol.

 

Weird trick I learned that actually works. If you hold the fob against your chin while pressing the buttons it works from farther away.

 

Lol nice call Joe333x!

 

yeah mine are terrible. Worst remotes I’ve ever had bar none. 20 foot range or so. Routinely doesn’t work any farther than that, especially through walls or doors.

 

I thought this was one of those things people tell you to do just to make you feel dumb when you try it and it fails, but it isn't. I do this with my first gen all the time.

 

Joe333x beat me to the chin thing. It does work! You're creating a little beam (directional) antenna that way.

Checkout my "Evolution of the Key Fob"

 

Was gonna mention the old key fob to the mouth trick. Learned that when selling cars many years back. Tell people to do it today and have to promise them they won't look like an idiot. Works just about every time.

 

Did you always have this problem, or did you possibly replace your cargo lights with Amazon LED’s and it started? That can affect keyfob range. I bought the LED’s for the cargo lights from VLEDS and it fixed the range as they are designed to prevent the range issue.

 

I was taught to hold the remote up against your chin and raise one of your arm up toward the sky for better distance.

 

Walk out of the airport terminal and press the panic button. There she is!

 

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/tech-myth-holding-the-care-rem-83663

 

Yes, arm fully extended, slightly upward but not up to the sky, hand open flat with fingers together palm down ... yeah, that'll do it!

 

I'm just spitballing here. But in recent years (like 10) there have a been a lot of auctions/sales of the wireless spectrum by the controlling entity (benevolent imperial federal guvmunt). Perhaps modern FOBs have been constricted due to this and the end result is loss of range.

Now: back to your regular Bat channel.

 

Oh jeez

 

There is a lot of science involved with radio waves and antennas. But could this yield some ideas?

 

Yes, ^^^THIS^^^ - but hold it underneath the tongue area of your chin - between the chin & Adam's Apple - and open your mouth like an "O" -- it'll give your signal a ton more range.
Works with any keyfob. I use it on my Subaru Outback and have an amazing range in open areas.

 

Exactly why I loved it.

 

Seems no answer was really found here, same issue. Brand new 2021 tundra, key fob range is maybe 5 feet, I have to basically be touching the truck. been this way from day 1 brand new, not even off the lot. I'm considering taking apart the fob trying to make a better antenna, or maybe even over volting the fob ever so slightly, but before that I'm hoping maybe there's some odd fix someones found? I've got a working solution for remote start that doesn't turn off the truck running when you open the door just waiting on a real POC run once its warmer, but this fob just adds to the list of things that bother me.

 

Have you changed the battery?

 

Yes, Sir.

 

Do you happen to have any aftermarket LED bulbs? You have push button start and found a way to keep the truck running during remote start? Im sure many will be curious about that since even aftermarket remote starts for push button trucks shut off when the door is opened. What does POC mean?

 

No aftermarket LED's, or lighting at all, nothing changed from factory, this has been a problem when the truck had only 7km sitting on the dealer lot still.

POC is proof of concept, I have every piece of the puzzle working independently just need to put it all together, it's a long write up, and it's pretty high up there on the effort level. but using an Arduino with a sim card, you wire the 3v power pins to a real working keyfob (that you took apart) in-place of the battery, and you wire a signal to the brake light switch, and push button wire. text the Arduino, or write an app (if the sim has data). have the Arduino turn on (give power to) the key (the truck thinks you are inside), send signal to the brake pedal switch (truck thinks you pressed the brake pedal), send signal to the push button (the truck thinks you pushed the button), and stop sending signal to the key (truck thinks you left the truck) Bam truck is running, set the truck from the headunit to keep the doors locked in park, and the truck already has built in logic to turn off after 1 hour of no Key. Walk up to the truck, unlock it, (truck sees the "real" keyfob in your pocket and thinks you walked back) just get in and go. I might be missing some logic there (its almost 12 here) but that's the core sudo code of it.

I have it working enough on a raspberry pi, but power consumption and size, an Arduino would be much better and I'm waiting for china-express parts to show up.

 

Anything in the backseat that could block the antenna? I could be wrong but I know there is some type of push button related antenna installed under the back seat insulation, only because there was an issue with installing under seat storage bins when the 20+ models came out because you could accidentally cut the antenna wire thats under the carpet.

That's definitely a high level work around that Im sure most will not under take, mostly because it involves having a phone line for it to work, I suppose maybe you could use a prepaid though to make it more economical? Guessing a spare fob is probably about the cost of a remote start system. Just brainstorming but what happens if you remote start from within the truck and never open the door, does it still shut off when you go to start it? Just curious because maybe you could just disable the open door indicator to always think the door is shut.