askchapo

As someone who has spent half their professional life looking at network packet drops, I may be biased, but it's interference.

There's no directly "geographical" causes, but there's a 99% chance the fob works in 2.4Ghz. Depending where in that 2.4-2.5 spectrum it functions (which will depend entirely on the car model), something else at your apartment is filling that frequency too.

Sadly that something can be just about anything - power lines, telecom wires, lights, any faulty/poorly shielded electronics or electronics using constant wireless comms, someone else's car, nearby antennae you name it. Only way you'd likely find where it is is with an RF meter/Spectrum analyzer and a lot of patience. My neighbour used to illegally over-power their network router which fucked up most wireless anythings in a 20-meter radius.

If it's at 2.4 ghz, wifi interference?

Some LED lights create interference with garage door openers & key fobs. Maybe you're parking near a security light or holiday decorations?

Aurora borealis?

electromagnetic interference is a real thing.. driving down the highway to a small town in california there is one little stretch of road just outside the city that will drop bluetooth connections every single time and cut my phone from my car so my music stops

you should test it in a couple more places to figure out which one is the outlier

what happens when you put the fob in a pringles can and aim it directly at the car?

I've seen a couple posts on a Honda Accord forum complaining about the same problem on fairly new cars. No solution posted unfortunately.

I don't think it's likely just interference, or it would be something you hear about happening with other manufacturers since they all use the same frequency. I also don't think it would be so persistent.

Someone had a theory that it's some kind of interference that triggers a security lockout on the car, trying to stop a brute force attack. Sounds possible, but it's just a wild guess with no data.