Keyless start? Anyone got it working?

[DaevM]

Didn't set it up when I got the car March '24 ( new se/lr) but after about 6 months of ownership, curiosity piqued, thought I'd see if it worked. Set it up, it did. Never used it since.
I'm a keys all day kinda guy. Been driving for 45 years on keys so verrrry careful with 'em .
But yup, worked fine first go, no idea what s/w versions I'm on. '23MY rear wiper and 3rd rear headrest.

 

[Yorkshire Hillbilly]

I've been faffing with this one for a long time. I've tried lots of different mobile phones and lots of different steps in lots of different orders. Including, as instructed by the dealership, unlocking the car, sitting down, buckling the seatbelt, pressing start then pressing the brake pedal.

I've gone completely keyless at home, but I've never got it working on the car, and as previously mentioned it's just another letdown on the bloomin thing.

It's going back in for a service and the whistling undertray fix thingy at the end of the month. I'm already primed for another fobbing off by the dealership, who, didn't bother calling me when the undertray parts were in, or when my service was due in November. Honestly, I pay a monthly service plan, and I get no shitting service whatsoever. I can't wait to get back into a Kia, the aftersales service was amazing.

 

[wandle MG4 trophy]

I've been faffing with this one for a long time. I've tried lots of different mobile phones and lots of different steps in lots of different orders. Including, as instructed by the dealership, unlocking the car, sitting down, buckling the seatbelt, pressing start then pressing the brake pedal.

I've gone completely keyless at home, but I've never got it working on the car, and as previously mentioned it's just another letdown on the bloomin thing.

It's going back in for a service and the whistling undertray fix thingy at the end of the month. I'm already primed for another fobbing off by the dealership, who, didn't bother calling me when the undertray parts were in, or when my service was due in November. Honestly, I pay a monthly service plan, and I get no shitting service whatsoever. I can't wait to get back into a Kia, the aftersales service was amazing.

Mine finally worked after the last service when R63 was installed. Fingers crossed for you

 

[Yorkshire Hillbilly]

Update after 2nd service and R63 software it still isn't working. The dealership actually said "we've replaced the battery in your key fob, see if it works now"
*exactly what they said when it went in last time by the way

Mine finally worked after the last service when R63 was installed. Fingers crossed for you

Please could you detail your pone make and model and exact steps if possible.

I'm using a Google Pixel 8 Pro, but I have a load of testing phones available:

1. go out to car (keyfob in the house)
2. open the MG iSMART app
3. wait for the app to finish faffing
4. open the digital key menu
5. select the car from the list
6. wait for Bluetooth to connect
7. select Unlock
8. car unlocks
9. sit in driver's seat
10. buckle seatbelt
11. select Keyless Start
12. app says success
13. press foot on brake pedal
14. car says no key detected

Also tried the above without step 10
Also tried the above with a different step 13: press foot on break and twist gear selector
Also tried the above with step 11 moved to step 9: the app just says please sit in driver's seat

 

[Martinonline]

I have a Moto G84 and keyless start works for me and it worked with the previous Moto phone.

As I had not used keyless start with this phone I had to go through a calibration process first.

My success message says that I have 120s to use the key. Is that what you see?

I believe that the keyless start requires Bluetooth so your problems with that may be causing problems with the keyless start.

 

[Yorkshire Hillbilly]

My success message says that I have 120s to use the key. Is that what you see?

It just says success

I believe that the keyless start requires Bluetooth so your problems with that may be causing problems with the keyless start.

Doubtful, I've tested it every time it came back from the dealership without getting it to work. The previous updates in 2024 fixed the Bluetooth issues caused by the one previous to that in 2023.

 

[Martinonline]

I tried the keyless start with Bluetooth switched off on my phone. The car told me to switch on Bluetooth and try again, which I did and it worked.

When I press the keyless start button I get a 'loading' message, lots of relay creaks from the car and then the message below:



Have you ever been asked to calibrate the keyless start by placing your phone in the middle of the steering wheel?

 

[Yorkshire Hillbilly]

Have you ever been asked to calibrate the keyless start by placing your phone in the middle of the steering wheel?

Confirmed, done that bit ok hence the car saying sit in driver's seat when I try to use keyless start

 

[Martinonline]

When you say you receive a success messages it like the one you get when you change the battery charge level? Or is it similar to mine above?

I would view the simple success message as the app telling you the car has received the message.

It would appear to me that the car doesn't do anything once it has received the message and that's where I would investigate further if I was trying to sort it out. MG must have software to monitor the actions the car takes when it receives a particular app order though this may not be available to dealers.

 

[DixieTGS]

I'm not confident that any thing below is going to help, but there's a few things which are worth knowing which may at least save some time.

The lock / unlock / keyless start all use bluetooth but not the pairing kind of bluetooth used for calls etc (Bluetooth LE ?). I've unpaired my phone from the car completely and keyless start etc still work. It's probably worth doing this while testing stuff.

The lock/unlock on the main screen used to only do network lock/unlock, and the lock/unlock in the remote key management did bluetooth lock/unlock. At some point they changed this so that the controls on the main screen try bluetooth first which is immediate, but if not available then network control which can take up to 30 seconds and sometimes fails.

Having activated the bluetooth key once which requires the network, you can turn the network off (mobile and wifi) just in case there is some kind of interaction.

You get different messages from @Martinonline and me. E.g. on keyless start we get the 120 seconds message. This seems to be dependant on whether you use the main screen or the keyless management screen. These days I only use the main screen.

If you want to recalibrate the keyless entry, it seems the only way is to uninstall the app and reinstall (Or from android settings for the app, stop the app and clear all data which is effectively the same). I suspect you've already cleared all data, but It may be worth trying this anyway.

Unlocking the car, opening the door and pressing keyless start before sitting down gives the success message and 120 second info. Thereafter I can sit down, press the brake and drive away with no further messages on the phone or car.

If I sit down before pressing start I get the key not detected message. Presing start still shows the key not detected message (a bug I think), but lifting off of the seat and sitting back down again turns on the car as normal, and you can drive away as normal. Instead of sitting down a 2nd time I think you can just press the brake pedal to go straight to Ready mode.

The phones I have used are all Samsung A series A20, A40, A51, A14, not the most up to date especially with regards to the bluetooth version. It may be worth trying one of your other phones with an older version of Bluetooth on.

As mentioned above, as it doesn't use pairing your previous bluetooth updates may not have affected bluetooth lock/start operation etc.

Note, while buggering around with the above I've had a few odd bits of behavior such as setting the alarm off (went straight indoors for the real key) and also a battery warning (probably pressing the brake before the car's fully on). I'm always worried I'll end up locked in and the alarm going off but it's not happened yet.

 

[Martinonline]

@Yorkshire Hillbilly, when you look at the Bluetooth connections on your phone history do you have one titled 'SAIC_w_Car' with a Bluetooth icon next to it? I have others titled 'MG' with the Settings Cog icon next to them. When my phone pairs with the car it comes up with MG.

 

[wandle MG4 trophy]

Update after 2nd service and R63 software it still isn't working. The dealership actually said "we've replaced the battery in your key fob, see if it works now"
*exactly what they said when it went in last time by the way


Please could you detail your pone make and model and exact steps if possible.

I'm using a Google Pixel 8 Pro, but I have a load of testing phones available:

1. go out to car (keyfob in the house)
2. open the MG iSMART app
3. wait for the app to finish faffing
4. open the digital key menu
5. select the car from the list
6. wait for Bluetooth to connect
7. select Unlock
8. car unlocks
9. sit in driver's seat
10. buckle seatbelt
11. select Keyless Start
12. app says success
13. press foot on brake pedal
14. car says no key detected

Also tried the above without step 10
Also tried the above with a different step 13: press foot on break and twist gear selector
Also tried the above with step 11 moved to step 9: the app just says please sit in driver's seat

I use an iPhone 15 Plus and this sequence.

1. open the MG iSMART app whilst standing next to the car
2. Refresh the app. Then scan the car
3. Use the circular unlock icon which is just below the image of the car
4. sit in driver's seat
5. buckle seatbelt
6. select Bluetooth Start by pressing the polygon icon rather than the rectangular keyless start icon
7. Select the car. Wait whilst lots of clicking
8. app says success
9. press foot on brake pedal and select drive

 

[DixieTGS]

When my phone pairs with the car it comes up with MG.

The pairing of the phone appears to not be required for the Bluetooth key. Try unpairing yours and see if it's the same for you.

 

[Martinonline]

The pairing of the phone appears to not be required for the Bluetooth key. Try unpairing yours and see if it's the same for you.

I'll try that tomorrow but the key requires a Bluetooth connection as shown by my experiments above.

The Digital Key connection may not be the paired connection so it would be interesting to see how a new phone without a stored and non-connected MG Bluetooth pairing but with iSmart login proceeded with forming and using the digital key.

Unfortunately unless I reset my phone, or buying a new phone, I can't see how to do that.

We need a new owner.

 

[DixieTGS]

Yes, the blue icon on the main screen and key management screen show when it has a connection. It can be 10m away through 3 brick walls surprisingly.

Entering the app seems to spur it on into making a connection if it's not present.

I unpaired from the android Bluetooth settings, then checked it was gone in the car before using the Bluetooth key.

 

[Martinonline]

Just tried the keyless start without a paired BT connection. No BT icons on my phone or on the infotainment screen but the car powered up and went into Ready mode when the brake pedal was pressed.

 

[siteguru]

As said in an earlier post, it's a separate BT protocol that is used for the digital key - this does not require a previous BT pairing. (As a comparison - I have a smart watch that uses the same methodology ... I can have BT earbuds paired with my phone so I can listen to music when out exercising, yet my smart watch still connects OK with my phone).

 

[Kithmo]

Update after 2nd service and R63 software it still isn't working. The dealership actually said "we've replaced the battery in your key fob, see if it works now"
*exactly what they said when it went in last time by the way


Please could you detail your pone make and model and exact steps if possible.

I'm using a Google Pixel 8 Pro, but I have a load of testing phones available:

1. go out to car (keyfob in the house)
2. open the MG iSMART app
3. wait for the app to finish faffing
4. open the digital key menu
5. select the car from the list
6. wait for Bluetooth to connect
7. select Unlock
8. car unlocks
9. sit in driver's seat
10. buckle seatbelt
11. select Keyless Start
12. app says success
13. press foot on brake pedal
14. car says no key detected

Also tried the above without step 10
Also tried the above with a different step 13: press foot on break and twist gear selector
Also tried the above with step 11 moved to step 9: the app just says please sit in driver's seat

My Moto G31(w) worked ok. I'm still on R33 infotainment version (the Trophy one).
I followed the same steps as you apart from I opened the app before I went out to the car and I didn't buckle the seat belt until the car fired up.
The car said key not detected as soon as I sat in the car but it still started when I pressed the brake pedal.
FWIW, probably irrelevant but, my phone automatically connects to bluetooth as I approach the car, even before I unlock it, unless it's asleep.

 

[siteguru]

Which BT does it connect to? Are you looking at the BT settings on your phone, or looking at the BT symbol in the iSmart app? The latter is more likely to be that related to the digital key rather than the BT pairing listed in the settings.

 

[Rom]

Thanks for the update.

Doesnt work for me in the Trophy. Can anyone else try with a Trophy?

I walked to the car, it connected via bluetooth.
I pressed unlock on the app.
Sat in the car.
Pressed the brake and says smart key not detected.

I then did the same but sat in the car... pressed the digital key start button, it says success.... but then I press the brake pedal and says the same.

It says put the key into a manual position, and then smart key not detected.

No idea why it won't work.

It worked for me first time I tried it in December. It doesn't work now though. Just same as everyone else, it just says put the key in manual position.