# 2008 Altima panic button on fob question



## APBAinMaine (Aug 21, 2008)

New to this forum, but not to forums, so please excuse my jumping right in. I searched the topic above, but didn't find anyone with my question. We have a 2008 Altima, and the poorly located, hyper-sensitive panic button on the fob keeps going off every time I sit down. I'm not even that fat, for crying out loud. Anyway, it came to a head last night as I nearly gave my 80-year-old aunt a heart attack by sitting in a chair on the other side of the house from where I was parked. I hate this thing -- didn't even want it, it comes with the car. Is there anyway to disable the panic button on my fob?


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## metro273 (Sep 16, 2005)

You'd have to remove the battery but that would render the rest of the key fob useless. You are in a no-win situation!


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## APBAinMaine (Aug 21, 2008)

Crap. Thanks.


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## Quick69GTO (Jun 8, 2008)

When we bought our 2008 Altima, we bought the keyfob covers that are available at the Nissan parts department. They are pretty thick so they may provide enough clearance to keep the panic button from being inadvertently pushed while it's in your pocket.
They were under $20 each.


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## metro273 (Sep 16, 2005)

^^^I forgot about those things.


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## Maxipod (Oct 11, 2008)

I agree!!!!! But, the thing i hate worse than the panic button is the "push and hold the unlock button for the windows to go down" I wish there was a way to shut that off, the first time I did that was when a hard thunderstorm came, and , you guessed it, I found out the windows went down after 10 minutes of HEAVY rain. At the time, I only had the car for 2 days. I was hot.


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## APBAinMaine (Aug 21, 2008)

I may try those. Set the *&%$ thing off twice today by bending at the waist. What a STUPID design.:lame: Nissan, are you listening!?!?!?


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## metro273 (Sep 16, 2005)

Somethings will just never satisfy everyone...unfortunately...


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## APBAinMaine (Aug 21, 2008)

metro273 said:


> Somethings will just never satisfy everyone...unfortunately...


Options would be satisfying. I know the panic button is a gadget popular with with many in our paranoid society, but there should be a way to just bypass it. I once lived next door to a dealership where the service department used the panic button to find cars in their large lot to be serviced. Nice for them, absolutely maddening for the neighbors. The big problem with them is, people actually ignore them more than anything these days. They're so often set off accidentally that they've been rendered useless. Anybody want to agree/disagree with that?


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## NSaltima (Nov 27, 2008)

*Agree:design flaw on panic alarm*

So far I have had to scramble and try to locate my key in my pocket while the alarm blasted on numerous occasions including: returning to a campground at 1 am...; in the parking lot at a well attended funeral, and in a friend's driveway after they had just gotten the baby to sleep.
I asked my dealer if they could just have it so it needed to be pressed twice before it went off. No luck. I think this should have been very forseeable and the answer above "you can't please everyone "..is hogwash. This is a design flaw pure and simple and it is very very annoying for something designed to be convenient.


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## Quick69GTO (Jun 8, 2008)

Buy the keyfob covers.
Ours has never gone off.


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## HD1974 (Nov 29, 2008)

This is sort of a related question. I bought my Altima used and it only came with one keyfob. Any idea how I can get another one for a good price? Thanks.


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## Quick69GTO (Jun 8, 2008)

Ebay, although programing it may be a problem.


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## HD1974 (Nov 29, 2008)

Quick69GTO said:


> Ebay, although programing it may be a problem.


What's entailed in programming it? I'll look for it in Ebay but if I can't program it it's gonna be useless...


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## Quick69GTO (Jun 8, 2008)

Your key fob is unique to your Altima. It is encoded (programed) to only open your Altima and no others. If you purchase a new key fob, it is not programed at all. It won't open anything.
Take the new key fob (along with the metal tabs that came with the original key fobs) to a Nissan dealer and they can program the new key fob for you. It takes just a few minutes and they usually don't charge anything to do it.

Good luck!


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## iam8up (Dec 2, 2008)

I have my fob on a ring with 10 other keys plus another key ring with 20 some keys in my left pocket all day every day. Never done this once.


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## HD1974 (Nov 29, 2008)

OK. Another sort of related question. Seems the battery on the fob is dying. Does anyone know how to open it without breaking it and if the fob will deprogram itself by simply changing the battery?


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## vrefron (Dec 18, 2007)

In re the programming issue from before, you will also need to get the metal key cut to your door locks, and then program it to the locks, in addition to the fob programming.


And no, replacing the battery will not require you to reprogram the fob. That info is stored in the BCM, not the key. Just take something thin and flat, shove it in the seam between the two sides of the fob, and rotate. It will pop open and you'll see the battery. It's a 2032 battery, IIRC.


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## HD1974 (Nov 29, 2008)

It might interest you to know that one local dealership wanted to charge me $100 to program the new key that I bought on eBay. The service guy asked with the bored look of a man who is accustomed to charging outrageous prices and when I said *no thanks* he had the smug look of a man that knows I'm gonna get the same answer at other dealerships.


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## vrefron (Dec 18, 2007)

That's because he (and I) know that it's not getting programmed outside of a dealership. If you want to get it fixed, he's the guy you've got to deal with.


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## APBAinMaine (Aug 21, 2008)

iam8up said:


> I have my fob on a ring with 10 other keys plus another key ring with 20 some keys in my left pocket all day every day. Never done this once.


And your point would be?

Set the damned thing off two more times today (my dealership didn't have the fob case when I went in and I haven't had the chance to find another dealer). My wife carries hers on a string and doesn't have the issue. In my pocket, it goes off, always. Particularly if I bend at the waist. I could understand if I was 290 pounds wearing a 30" waist, but I'm a normal sized human wearing normal clothes.

Anyway, I came up with a solution today, after setting it off twice in ten seconds (once at the front door, once setting a bag on the kitchen counter). I popped the cover off that key, then got some apoxy sculpt (I use it to build baffles in saxophone mouthpieces -- it's non-toxic and easy to work with) and filled in the vacant space. It hardens to a solid finish and prevents the depression of the idiotic panic button:thumbdwn: (if I'm panicking, there'll be lead flying, not a stupid horn going off!). 

Anyway, it seems to have worked. If not, I'm planning to file the back side of the panic button, which I will never use.


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## dthorton15 (Sep 7, 2009)

Today, I was washing my car and the button pushed in my pocket. Just my luck that some guy that I cut off the other day in my neighborhood was driving by and saw me. Soaked, dazed, and confused.

I did this with my dads truck once, never with my moms Avalon that has keyless. - Toyotes buttons are much smaller.


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## surfinagin (Nov 24, 2009)

*How I disabled my Nissan fob panic alarm*

I've suffered >2yr with that stupid, annoying panic alarm being activated by the fob in my pocket, and finally took action tonight: 
Opened fob, carefully pried ckt board out without touching the face, peeled the rubber below ckt board back on panic button end, popped panic button out, scraped and poked the red plastic backing under panic button with a utility knife until I could remove the red plastic by poking it thru from button face (Note: button is plastic/used care not to damage 4 tabs on back), reinstalled panic button, carefully reassembled fob, and placed a strip of electrical tape around panic button to prevent crud getting in there. With the red plastic removed, the button can't make contact when pressed. 

The panic button is disabled, and everything else still works. This took @15" and not very difficult -wish I'd got mad enough to do it sooner! 
NO MORE BLARING HORN ON MY ALTIMA!


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