Try holding it to your head then pressing it... odd but that seems to work (but it could be a function of height above the ground but it seemed to help my last car an X3) ...

Be true to yourself. That way happiness lies...

Theory was that you were using your body as a big aerial.

Mine works from my pocket so the big aerial theory must be correct

At last, I'm good for something, I'm an aerial

I believe it goes into "sleep" mode after 3 weeks of non use. That's when you need to use the key to gain access and get everything going again.

I have a similar problem when I go to my local shops. For some reason it takes several attempts for the key-fob to work. I've put it down to some kind of transmitter using a similar frequency in the area.... All I do is, and this may sound/look crazy but I saw Clarkson do it once, is touch the key-fob on my head and press the button, then it works fine

It increases the signal strength as it uses the body as an antenna... I have to do the same thing using the remote for my pool light as the receiver is just too far away from my house. (First world issues!)

Nah, certainly something wrong. got out the car today in an empty car park and had to press the fob six times before it locked.....I was less than 5 feet away.

I had the same problem today (tried my other key fob too with no success); seems to have been somehow connected to the cold weather (around -17 C in the middle of the day...). After standing in a garage at +7 C for a few minutes: working again (also outside)!

The truth of this matter, direct from Landrover Head Office, is that the central locking system is DELIBERATELY pre-programmed to become unresponsive, WITHOUT WARNING, to the key fobs after a nominal 28 days, BUT COULD BE LESS, depending the state of charge of the main battery. I KNOW THIS TO MY COST. Twice now my Freelander 2 has autonomously immobilised itself in my garage. As my garage is of a typical UK single garage width, I have to position my car just left of the centre line so that I can get out of the driver’s door, thus I am unable to open the left hand passenger door far enough to make a full body entry to be able to reach the docking station from that side. So I have had to call out Landrover Assistance and on each occasion the technicians were totally perplexed and had to call Landrover technical specialists who told them it had gone into sleep mode and, since there is no master key, the only means of recovery was to make a forced entry. This requires the owner to sign a form to authorise the forced entry, including a waiver of rights to any recompense for any damage so caused, even when the car is within warranty and the owner is not in any way responsible. If an owner declines to sign the form the technicians will depart leaving the owner with their car stuck in their garage. On the second occasion, the top edge of my driver’s door frame was left jutting out by about an inch. Fortunately, I had only single locked the car, thus it was possible to lasso and pull on the internal door handle to gain entry. However, had I double locked the car then pulling on the internal door handle would have been ineffective and the only recourse would have been to break the driver’s door glass to get the upper body through to reach the docking station. Landrover say that the owner can only protect themselves from this perfect booby trap by starting the engine and allowing it to reach operating temperature, which will then reset the sleep mode function. So, if you intend to leave the vehicle parked up for a while you will need to arrange for this, through a delegate if necessary. However, the owner’s manual specifically warns against allowing the engine to reach operating temperature by idling so you may need to pay an extra premium on your insurance policy to provide comprehensive (damage) cover for any driver so that your delegate can drive your valuable car on the road. However, there is no indication as to the status of the sleep mode “countdown” function so the driver, being you or your delegate, will have no idea whether you have actually driven it for long enough to reset the booby trap. This is, effectively, why I was caught by the booby trap on a second occasion – all of my defensive plans were to no avail. If an owner only uses their car for short journeys each day, then the sleep mode may never get reset and such an owner could be caught out at any moment. For other owners, as the car battery ages and its maximum capacity to hold charge diminishes, then the time for the charge to fall to the critical level at which it will go into sleep mode will get gradually shorter, so they can have no hope of anticipating when it might go into sleep mode and hence defend themselves against this booby trap – YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Landrover says the reason for the sleep mode is to ensure, that having got into the car, there is enough charge remaining in the battery to start the car. This seems nonsense to me as getting into the car is an essential prerequisite to anything else, so it matters not a jot whether there is enough charge to start the engine. Given a choice, would you rather be able to get into your car and then apply a battery charger for 30 minutes and/or get a jump start or have to suffer your car being damaged as result of a forced entry? Landrover further say that the key entry is on the left hand side because the majority of production is for the left hand drive market. So, having built in a feature to deliberately lock the owner out, at least for left hand drive owners, Landrover have optimised the chance of self-recovery from a sprung booby trap as the key is on the driver’s door, which is the least likely to be obstructed being the door from which the car was last exited. However, as Landrover do not transpose the key lock to the right hand side, along with the steering wheel and foot pedals, it is clear that they consider RHD owners to be a lesser class of citizen as we are not afforded the same level of opportunity to self-recover from the sleep mode booby trap. We RHD drive owners have to suffer the risk of damage to our cars through the making of forced entries – all this because of a perverse design feature.and a manufacturer which is too cheapskate to transpose the key lock to the RH door for the RHD market.

As a result of it being impossible to anticipate when my car will go into sleep mode and as there is no reliable means to assure myself the sleep mode function can be reset or controlled, then I now have NO CONFIDENCE in respect of being always able to get into my car and hence have now lost all confidence in the vehicle and want rid of it. Having taken legal consumer advice I have made formal claims for a full refund against the dealer and my credit card company but both have denied liability as the car is behaving as per its (perverse) design intent. Going to Court is unlikely to be a desirable final solution as, contrary to popular opinion, the fixed fee/don’t have to pay the other sides costs if you lose, does not apply to claims of this size – the costs are open ended and could easily equal or exceed the value of the car. Thus I look like being stuck with this rubbish car or trading it in at a vast loss in depreciation. My recommendation? – DO NOT BUY A LANDROVER FREELANDER 2 and, if you are foolish enough to do so, then take great care never to park it, locked, in a position where you cannot guarantee being able to open the left hand passenger door by at least 18 inches. Furthermore, NEVER double lock the vehicle unless you are prepared to cope with the consequences of having to have a window broken to get into the car.

And welcome to the forum, do you have a relation in Wiltshire  p****d off with a Digital Keyboard Warrior

Feel better now isbjorn?

This is old news here - we all know that one and park accordingly. And double-locking makes no difference - the key will still get you in if you can get to the passenger door lock.

If it happens again you might want to consider other approaches, such as jacking the car with a trolley jack then pulling it out of the garage. Or get a 'smart' charger and leave the car on charge whilst it's laid up, or just don't lock it when it's in the garage.

As for not warming the engine by idling it, it won't do any harm once in a while, particularly if you don't have a DPF. (But, of course, don't stay in the garage while you do it - nasty stuff, carbon monoxide!)

This certainly isn't something I'm going to lose any sleep over!

Same thing happened once on my 2010 Freelander. Just once in nearly 65000 miles! And it was after a motorway drive when parked at the services so battery was not low. Worked flawlessly every other time. (Coming) 2016 RR Evoque td4 180 HSE Dynamc
(Going) 2013 TD4 GS Auto - Santorini Black with black leather. Cold Climate, UK Lighting & Armrest Packs. Privacy Glass. LR Rubber Mats. Full size spare.
60 000 miles averaging 35mpg

(Gone) 2010 TD4 Manual GS - Stornoway Grey. Sold at 3yrs old & 64k miles. Final average consumption 39.2mpg.

In response to pab's suggestions:-

Double locking? - yes, makes no difference if you CAN get to the passenger door, but my point still stands that if you are unable to use the key in the passenger door, then forced entry (equals prizing open the top of the driver's door frame) and subsequent lasooing and pulling on the internal door handle will not open the door if it has been double locked - I have tried it and proven it.
Using a trolley jack and pulling out the car? - I am a pensioner, living alone; pushing a nearly 2 tons vehicle is out of the question and, what if an owner was not fortunate enough for their garage/drive to be level?
Keeping the battery charged? - the implication of Landrover's response to me is that the vehicle will go into sleep mode after about 28 days, even if the battery is well charged.
Not locking the vehicle? - invalidates one's insurance policy plus, what is the point of paying for a high security central locking system only to defeat it to get round one of its quirks?

My point, again, is why should we have to even think about such workarounds, just because a manufacturer won't spend a fraction of 1% of the production costs to transpose the key lock? - I would rather have paid a bit extra on the purchase price than to put up with such bonkers consequences. If consumers/owners take pab's shoulder-shrugging roll-over stance and continue to accept such bad designs, without fighting back, then manufacturers will just continue to run roughshod over us.

I am open to any other practicable suggestions to find a solution in order to avoid making a huge financial loss, but I haven't thought of one yet (well, I could just park the vehicle in the street, but why should I leave my second most valuable asset exposed to the elements, persons of mal-intent and other hazards, when I have a perfectly good garage within which I can fit it, keep it safe and extract it safely, were it not for the vehicle autonomously changing state?).

ad210358:- if you don't have anything useful to contribute to the issue, then please don't bother wasting forum space and forum users' time.

Well with that response I think you just lost any interest you had from anyone here! You'll just have to worry about it by yourself.

But for the record I was thinking more of towing the car out rather than pulling! Someone else here has successfully extracted a car using a jack but I'm not sure exactly how.

isbjorn wrote:

In response to pab's suggestions:-

ad210358:- if you don't have anything useful to contribute to the issue, then please don't bother wasting forum space and forum users' time.

With a rant of first post what did you really expect, normally members introduce them selves but oh no, you post one hell'uva arrant and want sympathy  p****d off with a Digital Keyboard Warrior

IsbJorn your obviously a little frustrated, but passing out provicating replies to established forum member will get you nowhere on the forum

Any further and action will be taken! Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis