door handle lock/unlock button working sporadically

[JustCurious]

I have had my new 2010 EX35 for 5 months. Up until this 5th month, the door handle lock/unlock button was working flawlessly. I always use this button to lock/unlock my car. Just recently, the button started working intermittently. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

[zarar]

I am not expert but I will take a pick at it. Could it be that the battery in the remote is dying slowly and has a weak signal, therefore not detecting the remote properly? By any chance did you see if your spare key responds the same way? Other than that, that is the first time I have heard of something like that happening on an EX35 (I think), let me know what happens.

[pwlorraine]

This may not be your problem but I found that I could inadvertently shield the key from the car with a laptop computer or cell phone. If the key is out in the open and not working reliably, I'd take it to the dealer - who I expect would change the battery.

Peter

[JustCurious]

Thanks for the quick responses. I did suspect the battery in the key. I'll do some more investigating and post what I find out.

[jamesstock]

Also does it happen at all 3 doors (2 front doors and 1 rear hatch)? Or just a particular one?

Battery and other possible shielding materials might prevent the vehicle from detecting the key's presence too! But you can try w/ the other key (since the car came w/ 2 keys) and see if it's doing the same thing.

[techwin]

I have the exact same problem. About 6 months after I got the car the driver side button began acting up. It would either not work at all or I had to push the button really hard to get it to work. At first I thought it was the fob battery but I tried my spare and it was the same. Also, the passenger and rear gate worked perfectly so I knew it was isolated to the driver side handle. I brought it to the dealer about 2 weeks ago and they said it was working fine (because that day it did happen to be working somewhat OK) and they said they lubricated the button. I was pretty upset since they completely ignored the fact that it hadn't worked properly for over a month. Anyways, about a day after bringing it in to get serviced it completely stopped working. I have an appointment scheduled for service next week and hopefully they'll just replace the handle and get the car back to normal.

I don't even try the driver side button anymore because it is completely dead. The passenger side works fine. It seems like such a trivial thing but after using the button system for over 4 years now (i had it on my G35 before) I can't stand having to use a key fob to unlock/lock the car.

[SteveTheTech]

There are ways to test the sensor inside the door. The EX even has proximity detection active tests.

I have seen all types of issues from improper body repair, water intrusion, and just plain old bad sensors. These types of concerns are not really that common (at least in my mid sized shop) but the techs are actually going to have to do some digging into this. It is all too common that we (the technicians) see only 1 line of a complaint on a repair order and that is all the information we are given about a certain problem. If I saw a lone that says something along the lines of " Owner states drivers door request switch is inop". The more information you can give them the better. If that means writing what you have in an email and printing it and having the service writer attach it to the repair order, well than it might be worth it.

I see communication being the biggest customer relations issue Infiniti faces, as many employees and owners do not know the product well enough.

TechWin has more experience with this system than most of the people I have worked with over, maybe the technician tasked with this repair was uninformed.

However the information for the component inspection starts on page DLK-63 (http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/EX/2008/DLK.pdf).

[techwin]

I agree SteveTheTech. I have not had to do much warranty service over the years but I find when i have had to bring my car in the poor service seems to be related to the advisor who writes up the work order over the phone. She doesn't seem to have a clue half the time...when describing the issues I was having with my door handle the first time she completely missed what the issue was. I know this because i looked at the receipt/work order and saw that she had simply described the problem as "button on handle hard to push". This seems to be the common theme, a total disconnect from what I tell her to what gets written on the work order.