• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
do you remember

DoYouRemember?

The Home of Nostalgia

  • Celebrity News
    • Family
    • Obituaries
    • Life Behind the Fame
    • Icons
    • Celebrity Feuds
  • Entertainment
    • Cast
    • Showbiz Rewind
    • Music
    • Beauty & fashion
  • Stories
  • Celebrity Buzz!?
  • Sitcoms
    • Bewitched
    • Little Rascals
    • The Partridge Family
    • I Dream of Jeannie
    • All in the Family
    • MASH
    • Happy Days
    • Cheers
  • Celebrity Collections
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • DMCA
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Stories

Is Your Key Fob Mysteriously Not Working? We Have An Answer To This Disruption

by Jane E. Kenney • Published May 10, 2019

Add as a preferred source on Google
key fobs and garage doors not working
Photo Credit: -Cleveland.com

It’s annoying, frustrating, and throws a wrench in our plans when our key fobs or garage doors just stop working. Often times we might see this happen to us intermittently, which makes it even more frustrating. This happened in a suburban Ohio city where some residents’ key fobs and garage doors mysteriously stopped working.

From garage door repairmen to other volunteer investigators, everyone had agreed that they were dealing with a powerful frequency that was causing this to happen. It’s important to note that fobs, in particular, rely on a powerful frequency in order to work properly.

Related:

  1. Disney Promises They’re Not Recasting Buzz Lightyear Due To Tim Allen’s Politics
  2. Ten More Random Unknowns Of The Things We Use Daily
Person pressing on a key fob
Person pressing on a key fob / Car and Driver

The experience of a whole city’s key fobs and garage doors not working understandably created a frenzy.  The NY Times reports that both the cable company and AT&T joined in on this search in addition to the Illuminating Company, which is a local electric utility. Everyone was involved.

Chris Branchick says his parents experienced this as well, but his fiancée’s car did not, even when in the same area. “We thought maybe it was a foreign versus domestic thing,” he said.

double garage door
Double garage door / Girard’s Garage Door Service

So, how do you get the key fobs and garage doors to work again?

Chris Eck, a company spokesman, reported that these companies that were involved began shutting off the power to determine the places that held the strongest interfering radio frequency. However, even after the power shut off, the powerful frequency persisted, leaving everyone scratching their heads.

Dan Dalessandro, a television repairman, was the one to detect a stronger frequency in one area compared to the others. They had found the source of the problem!

Key fob stuck inside car
Key fob stuck inside car / Popular Mechanics

The source of the problem ended up being a homemade battery-operated device that was designed by a resident to alert him if someone was upstairs in his home while he was working downstairs. It would alert him by simply turning off a light, but he had no idea how much of an issue it was causing for the rest of the city!

According to officials, the device was putting out a 315 megahertz signal, which is the exact frequency that many key fobs and garage doors rely on for their power. Needless to say, everyone is safe and the city is back to normal.

driving a car
Driving a car / yonkershonda / Flickr

City Councilman Chris Glassburn said it best: “They [frequency-interfering devices] are not inherently dangerous to a human being. But they could cause mass chaos in our technologically advanced society in ways we cannot predict.”

Be sure to SHARE this article, as it could provide an additional source of great information next time your key fobs or garage doors stop working!

Take a look at the video below of one resident struggling to unlock her car in the midst of this frequency interference:

More Like This

66-Year-Old ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ Star John Schneider Admits Owes Ex-Wife $3.7 Million, But Is Fighting One Thing

Walter Koenig, who played Chekov on 'Star Trek', and his son Andrew Koenig of 'Growing Pains'

‘Star Trek’ Star Walter Koenig’s Death Certificate Reveals What Really Took His Life At 90

barbara-feldon-then-and-now

The Only ‘Get Smart’ Cast Members Still Alive Today

Margaret Hamilton was good - too good

‘Wizard Of Oz’ Star Margaret Hamilton Showed Up On ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’, And Kids Never Forgot Why

About Jane E. Kenney

Jane E. Kenney was DoYouRemember’s Editorial Director, writing and editing nostalgia stories for the site from 2018 to 2026.

  • View Author
  • Website
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
Previous Post:Here’s How To Get An Upgrade At The Hotel On Your Next Trip
Previous Post:A Village In Italy Is Selling Abandoned Homes For Only $1.60

Sidebar

Recommended

McHale's Navy

No One From The ‘McHale’s Navy’ Cast Is Still Alive After The Last Crew Member Died At 84

Alan Alda

Alan Alda’s Hawkeye Rewrote A Dark Childhood Memory On ‘M*A*S*H’ That Most Fans Have Forgotten

‘I Love Lucy’ Stars Vivian Vance And William Frawley Couldn’t Stand Each Other, Here’s What Started It


do you remember
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • DMCA
  • Contact Us
  • Authors

  • Facebook
  • X
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Mail

© 2026 · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding