I had a friend that had a similar remote a long time ago. He was always having to squeeze the remote in order for the battery to make contact. I looked at the Kenwood remote I have, and while it's more sturdy, it still makes contact with the battery in basically the same way. The tip contact barely even has a spring in it, and I'll bet that heat expansion and contraction or something similar could cause this problem. The next time someone has this problem, try squeezing the remote near where the battery sits inside it and see if it starts working.