How to Open, Start and Replace Fob Batteries in Hyundai, Kia and Genesis Vehicles
We have seventeen videos offering help to Hyundai, Kia and Genesis drivers who’s key fobs or remote controls have gone dead.
This one is exclusive for the Kia EV9 with a unique key hole cover.
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This video covers Hyundai electric models exclusively.
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This covers Hyundai Sonata models 2020 and newer.
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This video covers the electric Kia Soul!
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This video assembles all keyless start Hyundai models together.
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A new video exclusively for driver of the newest Santa Fe and new Palisade model, which has a unique requirement for revealing the key hole.
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An updated video confirming the open and start process in newer Hyundai models.
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This video offers help with the newest Hyundais and Kias.
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Here’s a video of the procedure for early Kia Sorentos, Sportages and Fortes.
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Here’s a video of the procedure for early Hyundai Sonatas.
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This one covers early Genesis models.
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And a video for a Kia Optima built before 2014, a Kia Soul and a Hyundai Equus.
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Here’s the new Genesis line, updated.
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A video of us replacing the battery in an early Kia, Hyundai dead key fob or remote control.
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Another video replacing the battery in the newer Kia fob, 2014 and after.
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This video is the 2019 and later side button Kia key fob
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This is a video replacing the battery in the newer Hyundai fob, 2014 and after.
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This video covers key fobs introduced in 2020.
Models examined include Sedona, Genesis, Borrego, Mohave, Niro, G70, G80, G90, GV80, Cadenza, K900, Azera, Veloster, Venue, Sorento, Sportage, Forte, Sonata, Optima, Soul, and Equus.
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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.
These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.
Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.
The author has 25 years of automotive experience and has assembled the most extensive collection of symbols and warning lights anywhere (over 1,000!) and can help you open and start any keyless start car with a dead key fob battery. BA, St. Joseph’s College, ME: MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
The latest models from all three manufacturers — with two exceptions — have a much simplified process. Staring with vehicle updates in the 2013 model year, simply press the Start / Stop ignition button with the Smart Key while depressing the brake to start the vehicle. We originally named this the back up start Method 6. If this does not work in your model, continue on below for a method that will.
The exceptions noted are first, an EV button (far left) in Kia EVs. It is pushed just like the Start / Stop button. The second exception is the 2021 Genesis G80, which is now a Seventh Method. This method has moved to the 2022 GV60 EV as well, and may yet be placed in other models. If the vehicle does not recognize the key fob or Smart Key, slip the Smart Key into the space behind the shifter dial and cup holders and in front of the leather of the console. See the second image to the left. Then, step on the brake and push the Start / Stop ignition button to start the vehicle as normal.
We must also add an Eighth Method, which is digital. In the new GV60, G70, GV70, G80 and G90, a registered smart phone or a pre-registered card key can be placed on the vehicle’s wireless charging pad. It is found in front of the center console storage area (left). Once in place, the vehicle can be started as normal.
The Kia Forte, Sportage, and Sorento and Hyundai Sonata (prior to 2014) use Method 1. Insert the Smart Key in the Smart Key holder, which is a slot inside the center console, then press the Start / Stop ignition button while depressing the brake. To remove the Key, press it, then pull. Check out the video below.
The Kia Magentis also uses a slot in the center console in Method 2. Insert the Key and then press the Start / Stop ignition button while depressing the brake. To remove, press the Smart Key inward past the detent and then pull it outward.
The Hyundai Genesis, built before 2014, uses Method 3, which is a slot located behind a door above the shifter. Insert the Key and then press the Start / Stop ignition button while depressing the brake. To remove the Key, press it and then pull it out.
The Kia Optima (prior to 2014) and Soul and Hyundai Equus use Method 4, which is a slot in the glove box. The slot is a little higher in the Equus. Insert the Key and then press the Start / Stop ignition button while depressing the brake. To remove the Key, press it and then pull it out.
The Kia Borrego uses the Method 5 slot, which is in the dash just below the Start /Stop ignition button. It should be readily visible. Insert the Smart Key and then press the Start / Stop button while depressing the brake. To remove the Key, release it by pressing and then pull it out.
message to Step on the Brake. Press the brake pedal very, very hard when trying to start the vehicle again to be sure that the release switch behind the pedal is engaged. Or wait a few minutes and try again.
Automotive Culture Needs an Empathy Reboot
Automotive Culture
DashboardSymbols.com was founded on the basis that the industry was leaving its driver’s behind at crucial points in the driving experience – namely when something goes wrong. Recent events reinforce this basis.
First, General Motors and the ongoing saga surrounding very, very bad ignition switches. Evidence continues to point to GM treating the problem as a customer satisfaction issue early on and later to discover how to alter the behavior of their customers in order to rectify the problem of their cars shutting down unexpectedly. At first, the company warned against possibly hitting the ignition key with a knee or a bag, or some other foreign object and thus turning off the car. Later, drivers were instructed not hang heavy items on key chains, a warning that remains in force for cars not yet serviced in a recall.
Who Know?
Second, we got a call from a Kia Motors customer who tried to determine in advance of the battery in his key fob going dead just how to start a 2014 Optima. No one in sales or service at the dealership where he bought the car actually knew! They each pointed to a slot in the glove box, which had been removed for the 2014 model year. The customer called Kia’s California headquarters where he
was told that the start button is simply to be pushed by the key fob itself if the fob’s battery goes flat. He called us since we turned up in a search for the answer, and we had it wrong too! We had the procedure, but not for the 2014 Optima. (We had access only to the 2013 model year manual and have since confirmed his answer and updated this website posting.)
In both stories, one element of a car company serving the public got it wrong – at corporate in the first instance and at the dealership level in the second. The underlying issue to us at DashboardSymbols.com is a lack of empathy for customers. It is far too easy and convenient to look for where a customer is misusing the equipment or to leave them to their own devices rather than to expend energy looking for a possible problem or a real answer. Even as there was ample evidence that several parties at GM knew the ignition switches were bad, others at the company who were hearing complaints failed to go beyond looking for how the customer might have caused the problem. And anyone at the Kia store (who will remain nameless) could have opened the owner’s manual from a new Optima and supplied the correct answer.
Widespread Problems
These problems are not confined to GM or to Kia dealerships. They are part of a culture deeply entrenched with service and sales personnel who all too often quite frankly see their customers as stupid. “Not that question again!” And they are just as entrenched at the corporate level as evidenced by the growing number of tell tales thrown into cars with little regard for the average Joe who just needs to get the kids to school on time and get to work. The car culture puts a new system in a car, and makes a new tell tale. Over 270 of them on DashboardSymbols.com and growing.
A little empathy, a mile walk in their shoes, rather than the cynicism will go a long way at GM, and the industry as a whole, to change the current culture. Or at least soften it.
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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.
These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.
Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.
The author has 25 years of automotive experience and has assembled the most extensive collection of symbols and warning lights anywhere (over 1,000!) and can help you open and start any keyless start car with a dead key fob battery. BA, St. Joseph’s College, ME: MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY