On vacation, Passat rental, keys wet, how to open?

I need help guys. We got a Passat gasser as a rental car in Hawaii. The keys to the car experienced a decent snorkeling adventure. Can someone explain how to open the key on this 2013 Passat? My older keys just pulled apart. These seem to be assembled differently.
Aloha and Mahalo,
Russ

edit... just realized you are talking about the key itself.

Flip the key open, then stick your thumb in the groove where the key was and pry gently on the cover. The bottom half of the cover sort of hinges open.

Hahahaha, thank you. Well I'm not the first to give this set of keys a bath. The battery compartment is very corroded. Is it possible to tear it open any further? I'm guessing the IMMO pill is still wet...

Thank you, TDI Club. We are back on the road. [Sent from Mrs. 02AutoWag]

02AutoWag said:

Hahahaha, thank you. Well I'm not the first to give this set of keys a bath. The battery compartment is very corroded. Is it possible to tear it open any further? I'm guessing the IMMO pill is still wet...

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I tried unsuccessfully after washing mine. If you're in a hotel, stick it on the heater overnight and hope that it starts working again so they don't charge you for a new one.

I assume you've figured out how to get into the car (and start it if it's push button start). If not, it's pretty easy.

I doubt that they will have a heater running if they are in Hawaii. Set it in the sun during the day. That should do it.

You need to rinse the salt water out asap or it will die. A good water rinse (distilled preferred, if you can get it), followed by a 90% (or better) alchohol rinse (cleans more, helps drying) has never failed me, even long term. Just drying is almost always an eventual fail due to the contamination.

Water with no power is not an issue for most electronics, and most circuit boards are water washed as a final step of manufacture.

- Tim

I wish I'd done that. My fob is a bit sensitive on the unlock button after it's little washing machine incident.

Wow I washed my Acura key fob and it came out of the washer working great.

Surprised VW doesn't just engineer this thing with some light rubber gaskets. Keyfob ooopsed in the washing machine is pretty standard practice.

Then again not sure how deep (water pressure) you went, but imagine snorkeling wouldn't be like 200 feet.

Thanks again guys.

Once I realized the keys went for a swim in the ocean, I did rinse the keys in the ice cold beer cooler. With the battery case open and the keys sitting on the roof in the sun, 45 minutes passed before the car recognized the keys.

Once we got to my cousin's house, the key sat on a fan for two hours. Unfortunately that wasn't good enough. For the rest of the trip, we needed to remove the battery from the key every time we left the car. Otherwise, the trunk would repeatedly open by itself.