The flip key conundrum
Flip keys are a very popular style of key. Small and comfortable in your pocket. Just press the button and a blade pops out which you use to start the car. As of 22 June 2022, up to 50% or 60% of them are illegal (based on my findings so far).
Many keys of this style can be opened to reveal the battery quite easily without the use of a tool. As explained in my blog "Understanding the Standards", this requirement for tool opening is found in all the relevant standards.
So that begs the question... How hard does it have to be before a tool is required? How easily it opens depends on how strong you are! Some are ridiculously easy. While others, I personally can't open , but I have friends who can open the same key easily. Admittedly, one of them does fist crunches all night while he watches TV. If you are assessing against the AV group of standards, then this is a conundrum you will be faced with.
This is where it gets interesting. The Legislation does not call up the requirement for Tool opening in the UL Lithium Standard (the relevant UL tool paragraph is in Section 5.5). Australian legislation ONLY calls up Section 6 of the UL Lithium standard, not Section 5. Section 5 deals with construction and tool opening.
At first you might think this it was a drafting error. Why on earth would the regulator wave through a product that you can easily open without a tool? But when you really drill down you can see the subtle but important difference between the Aussie standard and the American standard. The final compliance check of both standards requires the application of a steel finger probe force to cause the battery compartment to pop open. The subtle difference is that the UL standard requires the application of a 45 Newton force, a full 50% more then the Australian Standard requirement of only 30 Newtons. I have tested dozens of flip keys, and I can say that 45 Newtons is about spot on. 30 Newtons is just too easy to open. At 45 Newtons you can be confident that a kid can't open it.
It's not every day you think that the boffins at Standards and the bureaucrats in Canberra get it right, but I reckon they have hit the sweet spot in this case.
In Summary:
a) a flip key that can be opened by hand fails AS62368 and the other AV Electronic Standards.
b) a flip key that is assessed against UL4200A that can be opened by hand will pass, but only the hard ones (more then 45 Newtons of force)
Below are some videos of different keys that demonstrate that some are easy and some are hard.