This morning I got in my 2010 GLK to head to the office. I have a remote starter installed and started the car (Canada) for a few minutes before leaving the house. Started no problem. I get in and put the smart key in the ignition and turn the key and nothing happens. Still running on the remote starter. Press the brake and the car shuts off as per usual with it running on the remote starter. The smart key will lock, unlock, open the tailgate and remote start the car with ease. No low battery light flashing so I am pretty sure the battery in the key is fine. I then was playing around trying different things inserting the key multiple times and trying to start it. Nothing was happening, dash wouldn't light up and power tilt wouldn't engage. It was clearly not being recognized. There were no notifications on the dash regarding any error or problem. First thought was to check the fuses so I got out the guide had a look at it and determined which ones I needed to check. Before I got out to check I gave it one last try. I put the key in the ignition and boom, the dash lit up and the tilt engaged and the car started no problem. No trouble turning over so the car's battery seems to be strong. I leave to work and thought this might be a freak thing and I do remember about a year ago putting my key in the ignition and it not being recognized but I took the key out once and put it in and it worked perfectly with no trouble after. I stop to grab a coffee before I get to the office, shut the car off, go inside and get it. When I come back out and try to start it, same thing! So I tried various ways of inserting the key (about 15 times) before the key was recognized and started the car with no problems at all. Again, no warnings displayed on the dash. I don't have the other smart key on me at the moment as it is with the wife but she will bring it by my office sometime this morning.

I have done a bit of reading this morning but cannot find any definite answers so I come to you. Any help would be appreciated as I do now live about 30 minutes away from my MB dealer and it's not like I want to take it into the city if I can fix this issue on my own.

Any idea what could cause this? If both smart keys have the same issue, it seems it may be an issue with the ignition? If my wife's smart key works, it's obviously a problem with mine only? Is there something I can do to solve this issue? Do I need a new key? Ignition?

Thank you. I will check back periodically to answer any questions you may have as I sort of rambled on a bit.

EDIT: Just went out and tried it at two different times. First time it worked on the second try. I tried it a couple more times right away and it worked first time. Just went out again and tried it twice more, worked first try both times. Very odd.

 

Sometimes new coin batteries are bad or don't last. Spend a couple dollars on a premium replacement key battery and see if your problem persists. It's a cheap and quick fix for a common source of problems.

 

You say you had a remote starter installed by whom?. After starting, you put the key in the ignition, and if the car is running, what is suppose to happen? Because of revolving code security, the remote may be using the code that the key would use but now the key is one code behind. There is a way to re-initialize the security / key sync and I think it has to do with locking and unlocking the doors x amount of time, but I can't remember. I think it is explained in the manual.

 

edit

 

In response to an earlier post, the starter was installed by the tech who does all of my dealers work. He is used exclusively by the dealer.

Later on the day I was having these issues, the key started working again as normal and has done so ever since. As mentioned, it was likely one code behind as a previous poster mentioned as that makes the most sense.