Two questions.

martin j.

Active Member
Feb 11, 2007
1,996
889
Fife
Evening, is it possible to turn off the steering wheel button lights? I could in my mk2. Secondly, I've got a message telling me to change the key battery! At 18 months old approx, seems strange, had the last Leon 4 years and never had to do this, the Honda is 7 years old and both fobs are fine, is this another cold weather mk3 oddity?
 

Julio

Active Member
Nov 20, 2016
35
1
Manchester
I think you can dim the interior lights (which would include the wheel lights, window switches, dials etc) but i don't think you can turn them off all together

Could just be a duff battery. My old Merc's key went after a few months, replaced it with a Panasonic one and was fine years later.
 

mty12345

Active Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,727
451
bristol
As above, i expect seat use the cheapest battery they can get. Replace with a branded one and will probably last for years as you say.
 

mk3frdave

Active Member
Jul 31, 2015
14
0
Mine also recently started to tell me to change the key battery, I haven't changed it yet as it only seems to tell me intermittently and I'll need to remove the FR key cover to do it :cry: It is 3.5 years old though...
 

AndrewJB

Friend to SEAT UK & Cupra Racing
Aug 16, 2007
11,211
484
Maranello
The batterys are common everyday batterys in the keys these days, not a specialist battery.

Mine lasted about 18 months.
 

Briant566

Active Member
Oct 12, 2014
343
2
West Yorks England
Just had the same message on mine thought it was strange so used spare key Fob and it cleared so it is correct Replaced key fob battery and cleared message
But my Last Car VW Golf had it three years and never changed any so strange VAG don't use the same battery
 

dsr

Active Member
Nov 1, 2014
111
9
Norwich
Just changed my fob battery after 2 years. Didn't enjoy the experience. Felt as if I was going to break the plastic, as I found the fob difficult to open; all well in the end, though. Using the other key now, hoping that might last a couple of years but probably not, as the basically unused battery has been in it since new.
 

dw911

Active Member
Mar 30, 2013
1,036
6
Just changed my fob battery after 2 years. Didn't enjoy the experience. Felt as if I was going to break the plastic, as I found the fob difficult to open; all well in the end, though. Using the other key now, hoping that might last a couple of years but probably not, as the basically unused battery has been in it since new.

Did you find the settings in the car different by using the other key, ie radio setting etc ?
Don't the keys store the individual settings, say if two people share the car and have a key each, their preferences are saved to the key and changed on startup
Never used the other/second key on any of my leons, so don't know if that's correct or not ?
 

Walone

Active Member
Feb 10, 2016
1,533
418
Near Heathrow
Did you find the settings in the car different by using the other key, ie radio setting etc ?
Don't the keys store the individual settings, say if two people share the car and have a key each, their preferences are saved to the key and changed on startup
Never used the other/second key on any of my leons, so don't know if that's correct or not ?

I found this happened on my previous car, MK6 Golf, the only thing I found that it affected was the passenger mirror dipping position in reverse, I expect if it had memory seats and mirrors that would have been affected as well.
 

ZK_FR150

Active Member
Apr 16, 2016
221
32
Had this recently too on both the main and the spare, cars a 13 plate so guessing they've not been changed since then.
Easy enough to change just extend the key and pull the black cover off with your hand.
The keys do store individual settings and driving mode.
Once you've swapped the battery out the dash message will clear automatically

Make sure you get the right size, think it's cr2032, there are cr2035 which is the more common size and look exactly the same but the guy told me the 2032 is slimmer.
 

Ewan

Active Member
May 7, 2008
100
1
Had this recently too on both the main and the spare, cars a 13 plate so guessing they've not been changed since then.
Easy enough to change just extend the key and pull the black cover off with your hand.
The keys do store individual settings and driving mode.
Once you've swapped the battery out the dash message will clear automatically

Make sure you get the right size, think it's cr2032, there are cr2035 which is the more common size and look exactly the same but the guy told me the 2032 is slimmer.

So just changing to the spare key (hardly used) will not remove the message then because its waiting for the battery change on the original Key?
 

Dt-spd

Active Member
Sep 1, 2015
246
0
Rugby
I had to replace my key battery recently. Original was a CR2025 and I fitted a CR2032 which is slightly thicker but plenty of space in the fob for it. Should last a bit longer but traded the car in the following day so hope its new owner gets years of service from the key battery.
 

ZK_FR150

Active Member
Apr 16, 2016
221
32
So just changing to the spare key (hardly used) will not remove the message then because its waiting for the battery change on the original Key?

Could be, I never thought of it like that.
I just put it down to both batteries having never been changed so like nearly 5 years old.
The batteries were like 2 quid each so I thought just change both while I was out
 
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