The Mégane II Owners' Club

i got in the car this morning to take the kids to school only to get the dreaded message Card Not Detected. The card opens the doors fine so I don't think it is the battery in it - but after numerous attempts to get the car to start still no joy. Any suggestions or is it a trip to my local renault dealer?

Tried a new battery in the card and suddenly everything came to life again! Thought I had fixed - but no the wife has had problems all day getting the car to start, not good when the kids need picking up from school.

I have that sinking feeling I will be contacting my local dealership tomorrow.

you haven't got the card near a mobile have you?

The card doesnt require power to start the engine. It uses an RFID tag. The power comes from the reader.

You should be able to take the battery out and still start the car.

Or if you can't, it's broken - try the spare. If both misbehave, then it is the reader.

Inside the key there is a coil that is the RFID aerial.

If one of the contacts is broken this will also cause the car not to start. Although the tag itself will retain the info. (Possible through continuous flexing of the key)

It is possible to heat and separate the key to see if this is the problem. If it is disconnected its easily soldered.

(this is recently documented)