physical key not working

[wfdw]

Hello, I'm new here and to my 2020 Expedition. I had troubles with my fob yesterday and tried to start and run with the physical key out of the fob into it's hidey hole under the cup holder.
First of all that location is VERY hard to access. I had to remove the key ring to get it down into the hole. Is there some secret to making it work? It didn't want to start but once I pushed it in a bit deeper it did start with foot on brake and pushing the start button but then it wouldn't shift out of park.
Eventually it recognized the fob and started and went into gear normally (already had new batteries in both fobs). But I'm wondering what's wrong?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Wayne

 

[apex96]

Physical key only gets you into the vehicle. You will need to place the fob into the slot inside the cup-holder. The actual blade key has no chip and is only for accessing the lock barrel under the drivers door handle. The Car has to sense the chip which is in the fob. With the fob in the slot, there is a sensor there that can detect the chip in the fob even if the fob batter has died and is no longer transmitting a signal.

 

[tominwi]

The owner manual says to position the key in the "hidey hole" (as OP called it) with the BUTTONS FORWARD. But it seems to me I have seen this described elsewhere (don't recall where) as opposite. Which is it?

 

[2020-MAX-Limited]

The owner manual says to position the key in the "hidey hole" (as OP called it) with the BUTTONS FORWARD. But it seems to me I have seen this described elsewhere (don't recall where) as opposite. Which is it?

The procedure I just posted for displaying the factory door lock code says to place the fob with buttons facing rearward, and the key ring upward. See Step 2 in the image.

 

[wfdw]

Oh, I totally misunderstood what I was to do. You may have figured that I was sticking the key in the hole.
thanks a lot!
w

 

[tominwi]

The procedure I just posted for displaying the factory door lock code says to place the fob with buttons facing rearward, and the key ring upward. See Step 2 in the image.

View attachment 83293

It seems "displaying the factory door lock code" is different, different from just starting the vehicle which is what the OP was trying to do?

This from pg 194 of the owner manual: