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New car key battery laws

Skylarking

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Compliance testing must be undertaken to demonstrate that safety requirements have been met.
Yes, complience testing must be performed unless the product is exempt. On such product is a hearing aid which doesn’t need compliance testing :rolleyes:

Oddly, as shown in my post #31, of the children that have ingested button batteries 26.4% involved hearing aid batteries yet only 0.4% involved “car remote, key fob, keyless entry”.

Yep, let’s solve the danger by ignoring the 26.4% and attacking the 0.4%. In essence the legislation is ignoring the bigger problem while junking cars because no manufacturer will redesign their old key fobs as there is no legal imperative for them to do so. So it’s $$$ while chanting think of the children.

And the legislation allows manufacturers to test compliance in house or by outsourcing to a third party which states the following:

Satisfying the testing requirements contained in one of the standards listed above will support compliance with the Standards if:​
  • For consumer goods that contain button/coin batteries that are intended to be replaced, the button/coin batteries contained in the product are not released after normal use and foreseeable abuse tests (stress relief, battery replacement, drop, impact, crush and force tests).
Note: A representative sample is a random selection of sufficient quantity to provide assurance of consistency across each product batch.​

Such product “abuse” tests would be done in the normal course of design verification for car key fobs since they must be durable while considering their use case. Many car keys fobs would have had specifications defined for the force needed to open the fob case and this would have already been verified during internal design verification. What’s needed now is for a minimum case opening force specification to be defined that meets the intent of the coin battery legislation that ensures kids can’t open key fobs to access the battery. Then this minimum case opening force to be cross checked against previous design verification documentation to see if the key fobs meet the new coin battery legislation. Its just a documentation exercise for any vehicle manufacturer, heck it’s something a work experience student could do under guidance form an compliance engineer.

Sadly an earlier article seems to claim testing costs of $2k per key design (which is just bullshit). It’s the beginnings an excuse for the industry to obsolete vehicles… It may be our commodores have either been made unsalable or dropped hugely in value. Either dealers won’t want them if they can’t get compliant keys or they’ll want them much cheaper if the new complient keys cost silly money… It’s fooked up no end…

As I said, this legislation should have been better targeted…

As is, tnis new legislation is now an excuse to obsolete stuff just as COVID/Ukraine is the excuse for inflation… Guess we’re fooked every way :mad:
 

chrisp

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Yes, complience testing must be performed unless the product is exempt. On such product is a hearing aid which doesn’t need compliance testing :rolleyes:

Oddly, as shown in my post #31, of the children that have ingested button batteries 26.4% involved hearing aid batteries yet only 0.4% involved “car remote, key fob, keyless entry”.

Yep, let’s solve the danger by ignoring the 26.4% and attacking the 0.4%. In essence the legislation is ignoring the bigger problem while junking cars because no manufacturer will redesign their old key fobs as there is no legal imperative for them to do so. So it’s $$$ while chanting think of the children.

And the legislation allows manufacturers to test compliance in house or by outsourcing to a third party which states the following:

Satisfying the testing requirements contained in one of the standards listed above will support compliance with the Standards if:​
  • For consumer goods that contain button/coin batteries that are intended to be replaced, the button/coin batteries contained in the product are not released after normal use and foreseeable abuse tests (stress relief, battery replacement, drop, impact, crush and force tests).
Note: A representative sample is a random selection of sufficient quantity to provide assurance of consistency across each product batch.​

Such product “abuse” tests would be done in the normal course of design verification for car key fobs since they must be durable while considering their use case. Many car keys fobs would have had specifications defined for the force needed to open the fob case and this would have already been verified during internal design verification. What’s needed now is for a minimum case opening force specification to be defined that meets the intent of the coin battery legislation that ensures kids can’t open key fobs to access the battery. Then this minimum case opening force to be cross checked against previous design verification documentation to see if the key fobs meet the new coin battery legislation. Its just a documentation exercise for any vehicle manufacturer, heck it’s something a work experience student could do under guidance form an compliance engineer.

Sadly an earlier article seems to claim testing costs of $2k per key design (which is just bullshit). It’s the beginnings an excuse for the industry to obsolete vehicles… It may be our commodores have either been made unsalable or dropped hugely in value. Either dealers won’t want them if they can’t get compliant keys or they’ll want them much cheaper if the new complient keys cost silly money… It’s fooked up no end…

As I said, this legislation should have been better targeted…

As is, tnis new legislation is now an excuse to obsolete stuff just as COVID/Ukraine is the excuse for inflation… Guess we’re fooked every way :mad:

Keep in mind, the restrictions are essentially aimed at lithium coin cells. Hearing aids typically use zinc-air cells. So those statistics on batteries being swallowed probably include all chemistries, of which some may not be as harmful as lithium cells.

I’m not disputing that the restrictions could be better targeted, but rather just pointing out that website with the statistics includes more than just lithium cells. The table with the data on ‘20mm button batteries’ is probably more relevant as cells that size tend to be lithium.
 

krusing

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VR - VZ key fobs were not designed to have the battery replaced that is why they are glued shut so I can't imagine there will be an issue with them meeting compliance.

In the past 18 months I have been noticing the cost of the. OEM VT-VZ Key Heads have skyrocketed,
I was purchasing them OEM units off two suppliers at approx. $48ea, they are now around the $90+ mark, and higher
Hence the reason I opened the key heads for the Adventra and replaced the CB batteries, which was against my grain of doing so,
However the CB batteries to suit, did only cost $6 for both from a local Playstation & XBox repairer.
Keeping in mind, the batteries I purchased had solder tags on them, so it would make it a bit unsightly to ingest.
Will be interesting what commercial sellers (Radio Parts/Jaycar) will be required to do for sales, maybe restricted to trade customers only ?.
 

krusing

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As mentioned in this thread, If any one is replacing the battery in their VE key fob, assuming a VF is similar,
caution is to be taken, as it can be a bit difficult to slide off the remote house, and is easy to damage the actual blade housing/plastic, as this needs to be remove so the key head can be opened, whereas this is requiring the use of tools, again, caution required so not to damage the housing.
Recommending a small blade device to open the shell/housing,
There is 2 different size batteries they can be,
This also depends if the key head is OEM or Aftermarket.
 

J_D 2.0

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Compliance testing must be undertaken to demonstrate that safety requirements have been met.

And there it is! Told ya so! Always forcing more money to be spent.

Instead just having to comply to a standard you’ll have to pay our extortion fees as well thank you very much!
I always find it amazing (not) that when it comes to the exalted resources industry that statistically pays zero tax in this country the government doesn’t do anything without consulting them first and makes sure there’s basically zero burden placed on them at all.

When it comes to anything the consumer uses thats made by multiple companies in competition with each other to provide a competitive market the government makes sure the burden of regulation is as heavy as possible.

Obviously there’s not enough board positions for retired politicians available at corporations making/using button batteries to influence the outcome.

End rant.
 

Fu Manchu

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1656198710079.gif
 

hademall

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And when all said and done even though these new regulations are meant to safeguard against kids being harmed by button batteries, you can guarantee that people will still leave them lying around, kids will still put them in their mouths, the statistics will no doubt show this down the track and once again we plebs will be financially worse off!
 

krusing

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The question I was going to ask before,
What are the parents doing not disposing of the exhaust batteries,
and making sure the children are not playing with items with button batteries in them.
There has been a few times over the years I had seen a child/toddler throw a tanty, and the parents have given them their car keys to quieten them down, so they bash them against the pram/stroller, and what are the chances they will pop open, and child thinks what’s this, and then swallows the battery
The parents need to take some sort of responsibility to be mindful of items with these batteries installed.
Don’t they keep cleaning product/poison out of reach of children ?

The other thing I thought about was,
Might be best in the future to make sure ANY accessory and/or device requires a tool to open the unit up to access the battery, that will save some accidents from happening, but that depends upon if the person refits the secure screws.
 

Drawnnite

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Depends what a spec says about tools and if it requires "special tool" or just a standard tool.
Speaking from a Hazardous Area world whereby a special tool means an Allen key rather than being able to use a screwdriver.

Can see an easy fix for remote fobs or any other device would just be to have the requirement that to access a coin style battery needs 2x screws to secure the device.
Ie in a Vr-Vz key is the 2 screws which secure it but also double as the key blade retaining.
Just modify other brands/models etc so that after it slides together that 2 screws are required to keep it in place.

Million dollar idea, given out for free :rolleyes:
 

krusing

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Depends what a spec says about tools and if it requires "special tool" or just a standard tool.
Speaking from a Hazardous Area world whereby a special tool means an Allen key rather than being able to use a screwdriver.

Can see an easy fix for remote fobs or any other device would just be to have the requirement that to access a coin style battery needs 2x screws to secure the device.
Ie in a Vr-Vz key is the 2 screws which secure it but also double as the key blade retaining.
Just modify other brands/models etc so that after it slides together that 2 screws are required to keep it in place.

Million dollar idea, given out for free :rolleyes:

My point exactly,

I will go you half ! ;)
$$$$. $$$$
 
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