Have you ever found yourself holding your car key fob to your head, hoping it would magically extend its range? It’s a common practice, almost a ritual, when your car seems just out of reach. But does this actually work, or is it just wishful thinking? Let’s dive into the science, or lack thereof, behind this widespread belief about your Car Key And Fob.
The idea that holding your car remote to your head improves its signal strength is based on the observation that sometimes, after performing this action, the car responds. However, this perceived success might be misleading due to a common logical fallacy known as selection bias. We only tend to remember the instances where the remote worked after holding it to our heads, conveniently forgetting all the times it didn’t, or when it worked perfectly fine without any head involvement. This is a bit like believing a lucky charm works because you wore it when something good happened, ignoring all the times good things happened when you weren’t wearing it.
To illustrate this point, consider the notoriously unreliable Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) cartridges from the 80s. Childhood wisdom dictated that blowing into the cartridge would fix any malfunctions. Each kid had their own variation of this ritual – blowing harder, shaking the cartridge, pressing the reset button repeatedly. In reality, removing and re-inserting the cartridge, along with rebooting the NES, simply provided another attempt for the system to work. The blowing and shaking were just rituals associated with the eventual, often random, success.
XKCD comic about blowing on NES cartridge to fix it
Similarly, with your car key and fob, the act of holding it to your head might seem to coincide with success, but it’s likely just a matter of probability. You’re trying the remote multiple times, and eventually, it works. The head-holding is likely just an unrelated action performed during one of these attempts.
Now, let’s consider the possibility that there might be some scientific basis to this myth. It’s true that placing your head near the car key and fob will alter its electromagnetic radiation. Your head, being conductive, can interact with the radio waves emitted by the fob’s antenna. The question is, does this alteration improve or worsen the signal?
Theoretically, your head could act as an antenna extension, or even a reflector, potentially redirecting the radio waves towards your car. Given the size of your head compared to the small antenna in the car key and fob, it might even create a more efficient radiating structure in some scenarios. Conversely, your head could also be a less effective antenna due to its lower conductivity compared to metals like copper. It might also refract the waves away from your vehicle, weakening the signal.
The truth is, without rigorous testing by qualified RF engineers using proper equipment, we simply don’t know for sure. All the information available on this topic is largely anecdotal, based on poorly designed personal experiments or hearsay from so-called “experts.” There’s a distinct lack of reliable, scientifically collected data to support the claim that holding your car key and fob to your head actually boosts its range.
In conclusion, while it’s entertaining to imagine our heads as signal boosters for our car key and fob, the reality is far more likely rooted in chance and our tendency to see patterns where none exist. The next time your car remote seems unresponsive, try replacing the battery first – a much more likely culprit – rather than relying on the head-holding myth.
