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Hey All,

I have had a persistent issue for the past few winters (in Chicago) that seems to be getting worse and I was looking for some guidance. I own a 2013 Civic LX and it seems that whenever the weather gets particularly cold/suddenly drops (as it did this past weekend from the mid 30s (F) to about 10F) the locks in my car/the key fob do not work. More clearly, if I leave my apartment with my key fob and attempt to unlock the car, lock the car, or open the trunk with the fob, nothing happens. Additionally if I try to use my key in the driver side door lock, it also does nothing (car stays locked). The only way I've been able to get around this is by leaving my window open slightly so I can manually press unlock from the inside though this is obviously not ideal. There doesn't seem to be any issue with my battery or engine as the car starts and works just fine, it only seems to be with the locks/fob.

Sometimes if I just stand next to the car and smash the unlock button the car lock will eventually unlock though I may be doing this for up to 3-4 minutes. This occurs with both of my fobs as well as my valet key (at least for the keyed entry with the valet key) so I don't believe it to be a battery issue in the fob itself. Not to mention that this issue never occurs when its warm/I don't even think that should matter because its not like I leave my fobs out in the freezing cold as well. So I feel that the issue has to do with my car/what ever is receiving the RF signals from my fob. Maybe the keyed entry still somehow relies on this? Not sure why it would be stupid and do that, but what do I know about cars... Given that the trunk also doesn't open it doesn't seem like the issue is specific to one door lock/all the door locks, though I have read about a recall in the 2012 LX model having to do with moisture in the doors freezing up when it gets cold.

If anyone can give me some help I'd greatly appreciate it. If I can fix it myself easily/cheaply that would be cool, but if I have to take it into a mechanic, c'est la vie. Just to reiterate, the issue happens only initially and is not a problem after the car has been warmed up/already opens. And again, nothing else seems to be wrong with the car outside of entering the damn thing, so as long as I can get in everything else works like a charm.