Yes I agree!!
I recently had a similar problem in my 2005 Ducato Motorhome here in Oz. In the middle of a 5 week trip we stopped for lunch and it would not start afterwards - dead.... turned over but would not start...
I did not initially notice that the padlock light was staying on. When I finally did recognise the issue was the security system was not recognizing the key, I tried my spare key (also no joy), tried fiddling the key battery (no joy), then patiently kept trying over about 10 min until it finally (randomly??) started!
The next decent sized town we came to (a long way apart in Oz) I called in to an auto-electrician who plugged in his scan tool and simply confirmed it was "key recognition". I put new batteries in both keys and continued on my way...
However, it has happened occasionally since, but if it does not start first go I immediately look at the padlock light and patiently try until it starts. It has never taken as long as that first time - usually only 5-10 attempts, but I do not bother to turn the key to start if the padlock light has not gone out so it does not waste the battery. Apparently from this forum this is a known issue with this model and can be affected by many things. I also learnt from forum that the emergency start procedure (long and tiresome) does work on the diesel (mine is 2.8L 244 motor) despite what the manual says, which is good to know. If it ever will not recognise the key despite infinite attempts, I can at least get it going that way to get to the next location!!
