Key fob battery life - battery never dies!

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CX5
So I bought my 2019 CX-5 2.5 years ago and about 1 year into my ownership, my key fob battery warning starting appearing on my car panel. I never changed it and now, over a year and a half later, it is still working.

Occasionally, I still will get the warning that my battery life is low, however, I just ignore it and the fob continues to work and the warning goes away. I bought an extra replacment battery but the fob just keeps working...It's just very strange. Does the fob battery recharge or anything?
 
"Does the fob battery recharge or anything"?

Exactly how would it recharge itself? Solar? Nuclear? Magic?

No, it doesn't recharge, you're just lucky is all.
 
Just change the battery. It'll probably completely fail some stormy night and then you'll have to fumble trying to get the key out of the fob to unlock the door in the pouring rain with some shady characters lurking in the dark.

The battery is less than $2.00.
 
Key fob battery life has been about 2 years for me. As recommended above, just change it.
 
Sometimes mine will say it's low, but it actually depends where the fob is. If it's winter and covered by a few clothing layers, or if it's in my gym bag with a bunch of stuff, it'll say that it's low. But it really isn't low, just has a harder time getting the signal to reach. IMO, it's time to change the battery when you get the "low" message and the fob is in your hand and about a foot away from the start button.
 
Sometimes mine will say it's low, but it actually depends where the fob is. If it's winter and covered by a few clothing layers, or if it's in my gym bag with a bunch of stuff, it'll say that it's low. But it really isn't low, just has a harder time getting the signal to reach. IMO, it's time to change the battery when you get the "low" message and the fob is in your hand and about a foot away from the start button.
Based on my past experience “Key fob battery low” message sometimes is not accurate like you said. I did see the message a couple times but I kept ignoring it since it’s not consistent. Finally I replaced the key fob battery with a new Panasonic CR2025 until I had trouble to unlock the door in the morning. The tiny red LED indicator on the key fob was very dim when the button is pressed, but the “Key fob battery low” message hadn’t been displayed for a long time.

Like 7eregrine, I replace the key fob battery only when I need to.
 
And so wasteful. I never change batteries until it tells me to.

I agree. There's no reason to change the battery early since the car will tell you when the battery is getting low. Worst case, the car doesn't inform you that the battery is weak and it dies, you can still start the car no problem. Change the battery when needed.

Batteries are cheap but why toss a perfectly good battery?
 
Factory batteries lasted over 3 years for me. Started getting the messages from both fobs last winter, and I also noticed at that time that I had to get closer to the car before the locks would work. Changed them out, and so far so good.
Changing them yearly just seems like such a waste.
 
I have been shamed! I have wasted $1.25, 5 minutes of my time and replaced a used battery.
To me, it isn’t the money, but the environmental concerns. How many people actually dropped the used CR2025 lithium batteries to an official battery-recycling drop-off location?
 
"To me, it isn’t the money, but the environmental concerns"............. me too.

Frank
Going off topic a bit, but I wonder in 50 years what the landscape will look like when all those used batteries from electric cars don't get recycled, but just tossed in the dumpster.
Here in Canada, the gov. just announced they'll ban the sale of gas powered cars by 2035.
Ya, like electric cars are not harmful to the environment.
 
Going off topic a bit, but I wonder in 50 years what the landscape will look like when all those used batteries from electric cars don't get recycled, but just tossed in the dumpster.
Here in Canada, the gov. just announced they'll ban the sale of gas powered cars by 2035.
Ya, like electric cars are not harmful to the environment.
EVs are supposed to be zero-emission vehicles. But they basically transfer the emission to power plants which definitely are not zero emissions. More than 80% of the power plants still use fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and petroleum) in some countries which are the major threat to the climate change with the amount of CO2 generated. Even in the US, 59% of the electricity is generated by fossil fuels in 2020! Only 20% each for cleaner electricity from nuclear energy and renewable energy. And the nuclear waste from nuclear power plants is still problematic.

It isn’t just the battery itself threatening the environment!
 
I have been shamed! I have wasted $1.25, 5 minutes of my time and replaced a used battery.
Yea, no one cares that you spent money or time on it. It's just not a smart thing to do. You think it is. It's not. You are replacing that battery 3 years too soon. Minimum.
Something tells me you had a bad experience being locked out of a car?!?
SHAME. SHAME.
:D
 
EVs are supposed to be zero-emission vehicles. But they basically transfer the emission to power plants which definitely are not zero emissions. More than 80% of the power plants still use fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and petroleum) in some countries which are the major threat to the climate change with the amount of CO2 generated. Even in the US, 59% of the electricity is generated by fossil fuels in 2020! Only 20% each for cleaner electricity from nuclear energy and renewable energy. And the nuclear waste from nuclear power plants is still problematic.

It isn’t just the battery itself threatening the environment!
Ya, agreed. (sorry mods, I know, off topic a bit, but it's important).
EV's still need energy to operate. A two ton vehicle doesn't run on air. That battery power driving the motors driving the wheels has to be generated somewhere. If we go all electric in 20-30 years, the demand on the power grids will be astronomical. We'll need much more power generation, regardless of how we get it (coal, nuclear, natural gas, whatever). Who's gonna build it and pay for it? Thankfully I'll be dead by then, but my grandkids will be paying the price. I feel for them.
 
Ya, agreed. (sorry mods, I know, off topic a bit, but it's important).
EV's still need energy to operate. A two ton vehicle doesn't run on air. That battery power driving the motors driving the wheels has to be generated somewhere. If we go all electric in 20-30 years, the demand on the power grids will be astronomical. We'll need much more power generation, regardless of how we get it (coal, nuclear, natural gas, whatever). Who's gonna build it and pay for it? Thankfully I'll be dead by then, but my grandkids will be paying the price. I feel for them.
"Thankfully you'll be dead by then"?

You don't think that you'll be around in 20 to 30 more years? I plan on being around for 40 to 50 more years myself!

I'm retired and my plan is to live long enough so that I'm retired longer than I have worked in my life. I retired when I was 55 and I worked for ~40 years so as long as I live past 95 I'm good! I'm aiming for 105.
 
I've been getting the low battery message for about 13 months. I replaced my wife's immediately when the message appeared on hers, but I'm more adventurous. :) Anyways, today was the day it died. I replaced it with a 2032, so I'm guessing it will last at least 3 more years.
 
I find my battery in my fob dying quickly. I've replaced it twice in the same year. Sucks.
 
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