Why yes they are. I’m talking about Durango’s from 2004 - 2007, possibly 08’s too. The problem with these remote head keys is the battery terminal clip can very easily break away from the circuit board. It is unknown to me whether this is a problem with weak solder, cheap materials, or poor quality control but what is known is that thousands of people have experienced a premature failure of the these fobs.

It is amazing that Dodge has released and continues to release such a defective product onto the unsuspecting public and will not honor the key under the factory warranty. The cost to replace it at the dealer is around 150 to 200 dollars! If you own a Durango or any Dodge / Chrysler / Jeep vehicle with a remote head key that is in good working order I would recommend taking extreme care to protect it. These keys can fail by dropping them or even looking at them funny.

If you have a key that has already failed, you do have a couple of options available to you. The first and obvious would be to bite the bullet and replace it. The second option would be to attempt to repair it yourself. If you have any sort of experience repairing electronics this would be an easy job, just resolder the terminal back onto the circuit board. If the thought of that sounds scary to you, as a last resort , you can open up the housing and reposition the terminal clip over the board, holding the battery in place.

Take a piece of electrical tape and tightly wrap it around the lower half of the housing several times. Snap the housing back together and screw it down. (will be tight) Take a knife or razor blade and trim the excess tape from the housing. (it will now be wrapped entirely around the bottom piece) If it worked, you should have a working remote. I would only do this as a temporary fix and would not really recommend it for a permanent solution.

If you would rather not bother with repairing it yourself you can shop for Durango Remote Head Keys right here at CheapFobs.com (see related pages) for a fraction of the dealer price. These keys can be programmed with an on board procedure if you have 2 working keys present, working as in the key will start the vehicle. (not referring to the remote)

If you only have one working key (or none) a dealer or locksmith will need to program the key.

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