Jaguar E-Pace Key Not Recognised
When the E-Pace says it doesn't recognise the smart key, it is usually the fob battery or a low car battery, not the key itself. Hold the fob against the marked spot on the steering column, press the brake and press start — that gets you going either way. Then change the fob battery, and if the car battery is weak, charge it.
How bad is it · Safe to drive
Once it starts, it drives normally
The backup position on the steering column starts the car with a weak fob. A low car battery that is causing it will soon stop the car starting at all.
Which one applies to yours depends on your symptoms, your model year and what has already been done to it.
Likely causes, most common first
Read the check cost before the odds: a free check that rules a cause out beats a likely guess that costs money.
Flat fob battery
The fob runs on a CR2032 that lasts something like 18 months. The car doesn't always warn before it dies.
The car keeps asking for the key to be placed under the steering column to start, then one morning the doors won't open with the fob at all.
Try the spare fob. If the spare works, the first fob's battery is the answer.
A new CR2032 in the fob. If it still isn't recognised after the change, start it from the backup position once.
Low car battery
A falling battery shuts functions down one by one, and reception of the fob is one of them.
Neither fob locks or unlocks, the remote app still talks to the car but can't start it, and low battery warnings have been showing.
Get in with the key blade and use the backup position to start; if it starts, the fobs are fine.
Start it from the steering column position and give it a good run, or charge the battery. If the warning keeps coming back, the battery needs replacing.
The keyless receiver or a control module
If range keeps shrinking with fresh fob batteries, the receiving side in the car is the suspect: a bad connection or an internal fault in the door receiver, or a control unit.
You have to stand right beside the car, then the fob does nothing for 10–20 minutes before it suddenly works; the spare fob is just as bad.
Fresh batteries of a different brand in both fobs. If nothing changes, a dealer can read the codes and check every key is paired.
Dealers replaced control units in the car to cure it. Replacing the key module and keys alone has held for only a few days.
The order to check them in
The point of the order is money: each step either rules a cause out or makes the next one worth doing. Green is free, amber costs a little, red is the one to arrive at last.
Use the backup position
When the dash says smart key not recognised, hold the fob against the marked spot at the base of the steering column cover, press the brake (or clutch) and press start.
freeTry the spare fob
Spare works, first doesn't: fob battery. Both fail: look at the car battery.
freeChange the fob battery
A CR2032. A brand change has been known to leave a fob unrecognised for a while — the backup position still works.
a coin cellCheck the car battery
If the fobs fail together and low battery warnings have been showing, charge the battery and see whether keyless entry comes back.
free to testShrinking range with new batteries
A dealer reads the codes and checks the keys are paired, then looks at the receiver and the control units.
a dealer visitWhat it usually isn't
Don't spend money here first:
If none of this finds it:
On jagaux.com
- Jaguar E-Pace Low Battery Warning, Battery ReplacementIf low battery warnings come with the key problem.
- Jaguar E-Pace Stop Start Not WorkingIf stop/start has also given up — another sign of a weak battery.
- Jaguar VIN decoderConfirm your exact model year, engine and factory options before ordering parts — free.
Ratings, fuse numbers and torque figures vary by model year and market. Read the legend on your own car before pulling anything, and use the figures in the manual for your car, not the ones in a video.
Check your VIN: exactly which car you have and which bulletins apply to it.