What Does This Button on My Key Fob Do?

Lock

Also appears as: a closed padlock

Locks the doors; on most vehicles a second press confirms with a horn chirp or a flash of the lights. The hidden part is the hold: on many vehicles, pressing and holding lock closes all the windows — and the sunroof — so you can seal up a car you left cracked open. On many Chevrolet and GMC trucks, holding it for about a second folds the side mirrors in.

Unlock

Also appears as: an open padlock

The first press unlocks only the driver's door on most cars — a security feature, not a fault — and a second press within a few seconds unlocks the rest. Its hold trick mirrors the lock button: press unlock, press it again within about ten seconds and keep holding, and on many vehicles every window rolls down together. The fastest way to dump heat out of a parked car in summer.

Panic

Also appears as: a horn or an exclamation mark, usually on a red or orange button

Sounds the horn continuously and flashes the lights to draw attention — to scare someone off in a parking garage, signal for help, or find your car in a huge lot. Press it again to shut it off (unlocking the doors or starting the engine also works); left alone it times out after a couple of minutes.

Trunk release

Also appears as: a sedan with the trunk lid raised, often printed with HOLD or ×2

A quick press usually just unlocks or pops the trunk; on many vehicles you must press and hold for a second or two — or press twice, if it's marked ×2 — before it actually opens. That's deliberate: it stops a fob squeezed in a pocket from leaving your trunk gaping in a parking lot.

Seen on: Toyota Camry , Nissan Altima

Hatch / power liftgate

Also appears as: an SUV with the rear gate raised; "Hatch Hold" on 396 remotes in our data

Opens the rear hatch on SUVs, wagons, and crossovers. On power liftgates, press-and-hold opens the gate and holding it again typically closes it. On fobs marked HOLD, a quick tap does nothing — the hold is required.

Seen on: Honda Odyssey

Power tailgate

Also appears as: a pickup with the tailgate dropped

On trucks with a power-release tailgate — 2019-and-newer Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra fobs carry it — this button drops the tailgate from your pocket, handy when you're walking up with full hands.

Seen on: Chevrolet Silverado

Rear glass release

Also appears as: a rear window with an up arrow

On SUVs whose rear window flips open separately from the gate, this releases just the glass — so you can drop in a grocery bag without opening the whole hatch. Chevy Tahoe and Suburban fobs (2015–2020) carry it, and mid-2000s Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty remotes had their own version.

Rear cargo doors

Also appears as: a van with its back doors marked

Full-size work vans split the job by door: fobs for the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana carry a dedicated button that unlocks the rear cargo doors while the cab stays locked — so a helper can load the back without getting access to the front.

Front trunk (frunk)

Also appears as: a car with the front lid raised

Electric trucks and EVs with front trunks put them on the fob: Ford's F-150 Lightning remote carries a dedicated 2x front-trunk button, and on the Tesla Model S fob — itself shaped like a tiny car — pressing the front of the fob pops the frunk.

Remote start

Also appears as: a circular arrow, usually with no words at all

Starts the engine from your house so the cabin is warm in January and cool in July. Almost every brand uses a different sequence — most commonly press lock first, then press and hold the circular arrow. BMW does it with three quick presses of the lock button; some newer Toyotas use three lock presses with the third held down. A remote-started car stays locked and won't drive until the key is inside.

Seen on: Chevrolet Colorado

The ×2 marking

Also appears as: ×2 printed beside or under an icon

×2 isn't a separate button — it's an instruction that appears on many GM, Ram, and Chrysler-family fobs: press that button twice to trigger it. A circular arrow with ×2 means double-press for remote start; you'll also see it on trunk, sliding-door, and air-suspension buttons that want a deliberate double-press instead of an accidental tap.

Start / Stop (aftermarket remotes)

Also appears as: separate buttons labeled START and STOP, plus WAKE on some

Add-on remote-start systems ship their own remotes, and those often split the job into dedicated Start and Stop buttons (our data records add-on remotes with Start, Stop, and Wake). Wake rouses a two-way remote's display so it can report the car's status back to you.

Left sliding door

Also appears as: a minivan with the side door open, plus a left arrow or ×2

Opens the driver-side power sliding door; press again (or press twice on ×2 fobs) to close it. Our data shows 107 remotes with this button — every minivan brand has a version, from Chrysler and Dodge to Honda, Toyota, Kia, and Hyundai.

Seen on: Dodge Grand Caravan

Right sliding door

Also appears as: the mirror image of the left-door button

Same thing, passenger side. If neither sliding-door button does anything, check the overhead console before blaming the fob — most minivans have a master switch that disables the power doors entirely, usually flipped when kids are riding in back.

Charge port release

Also appears as: an electric plug; labeled "Plug-In" on the Nissan Leaf, "Charge Lid" on the Honda Clarity

Pops the charging-port lid open so you're not hunting for the interior release with a charging cable in your hand. It appears on the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, and Honda Clarity fobs in our data — each brand names it differently, but the plug icon is the same idea.

Charge timer override

Also appears as: a clock with a charging bolt

Plug-in hybrids often charge on a schedule to use off-peak electricity. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV's fob carries an override button that tells the car to start charging immediately instead of waiting for its scheduled window.

Climate preconditioning

Also appears as: a fan, labeled FAN on the Honda Clarity

Runs the heater or air conditioning while the car is parked and plugged in, so the cabin is comfortable before you get in. On the Clarity: press lock, then hold the FAN button for about three seconds.

Air suspension (lower for entry)

Also appears as: a pickup with up/down arrows or ×2

On air-suspension Ram 1500s (2019 and newer), double-pressing this button lowers the truck to its entry/exit height so it's easier to climb in or load. You don't have to raise it back up — the truck returns to ride height on its own when you drive.

Convertible top

Also appears as: a roadster with the roof arc marked

A dedicated button for the power top, found in our data on Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac, and Chrysler/Dodge convertible fobs of the 2000s. Most other convertibles skip the separate button — holding unlock or lock operates the roof instead.

Hood release

Also appears as: a car with the front lid open

Sports cars that put luggage up front give the fob a hood button: the mid-engine Corvette's remote marks it with an open-hood icon and X2, and Porsche fobs (911, Boxster, Cayenne of the 2010s) carry separate front- and rear-lid releases the same way — sparing you the lever hunt.

Headlights / approach light

Also appears as: a headlamp with beams; "Approach Light" or "Courtesy Lights" on Volvo fobs

Turns on the exterior lights from a distance to light your walk to the car — Jaguar fobs of the 2000s have a dedicated headlight button, and Volvos of the same era call theirs approach or courtesy lights. Many other cars do this automatically with unlock instead.

Car finder

Also appears as: a car with signal waves

Flashes the lights (and on some cars chirps the horn) to help you find where you parked — without setting off the full panic alarm. Hyundai remotes of the late 2000s carry a dedicated Car Find button; on most other cars, tapping lock twice does the same job.

Fuel door release

Also appears as: a fuel pump

Releases the locking fuel-filler door. Early-2000s Cadillac fobs (DeVille, Eldorado, Seville) carry one — a luxury-car touch from the era of locking gas doors that never spread far.

Park assist — forward

Also appears as: P with an up arrow

Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis's Remote Smart Parking Assist: with the car started remotely, holding this button inches the car forward into (or out of) a tight space while you stand outside it. Our data shows it on 69 remotes — Sonata, Santa Fe, Tucson, Sorento, Genesis G80 and more.

Park assist — backward

Also appears as: P with a down arrow

The other half of the pair: holding it backs the car out the same way. The car handles the steering; you're just the dead-man switch — let go and it stops immediately.

Aux / Option / A / C / Multi

Also appears as: a plain button with a letter or an abstract label

Aftermarket remote-start and alarm remotes carry programmable channel buttons — our data records buttons labeled Aux, Option 1–4, A, C, Multi, and Function. What they do depends entirely on what the installer wired them to: trunk release, a second vehicle, a rear defroster. If you bought the car used, the installer's manual (or a car-audio shop) is the way to find out.

Key blade release

Also appears as: a catch or slider on the side or end of the fob

Not a remote function at all — it releases the hidden mechanical key blade that nearly every fob carries. When the fob battery dies, that blade opens the driver's door the old-fashioned way (the keyhole is sometimes hidden under a cap behind the door handle).