Smart Card Issues
 

As the title says I have some issues. My Rx-8 came only with one key and all of a sudden it stopped working. The remote unlock/lock buttons work fine and I can start the car with the physical key but the whole keyless system doesn't work. When I press the little black buttons on the doors nothing happens and when I climb inside the knob won't twist and I have a flashing red key indicator on the dash. I searched around and found nothing. Dealer says I need to reprogram the key but I want to positive thats what it is before I drop $100 for that. Any help is appreciated.

Have you tried changing the battery? Mine was doing the same thing when I got the car and new battery solved the problem.

Yes I have. Replaced the battery last night. A little more background. The key less system worked for the first week that I had the car it was a little glitchy but it worked. Now no matter what I do I can't get it to work. I'm debating on buying a new key but I don't want to spend over $400 for a new key and have it not work.

Going through the same thing myself, I have a thread on it somewhere. Some people attribute this to one of the sensors not properly detecting your card. One of the sensors on my 8 was replaced by the previous owner for about 500, but the issue came back.

I've decided to just get a physical key and aftermarket alarm system for cheaper than dealer cost for another fob and fixing this issue

What kind of physical key? I want to get a switchblade key programmed for my car because the keyless system is a joke but I've heard its not possible.

I just went to Mazda and had a regular old car key made. It was $150 bucks, paired with a viper remote start / alarm system for another $350, and I'm at the same price as a 'smart' key from Mazda.

I went back and forth on what to do for a while, but this has been fixed once before on my car only to break again...and its $120 for Mazda to look into the issue, then the 'smart' key is $500, then replacing any sensors again could put me over $1000, so I cut my losses and went for a key and aftermarket system for about $500 total.

Not saying you'll have the same luck I did, but thats my experience.