Fault tolerant vehicle communication and control apparatus

Medium-range and global network information and control for a vehicle (14) is achieved with a portable wireless key fob (16), a user-provided nomadic device (18), and a vehicle-installed telematics unit (12) including a medium-range RF transceiver (20) and a wireless network transceiver (24). The fob (16) includes a medium-range RF transceiver (22) for bi-directional communication with the telematics unit (12), and a short-range wireless transceiver (30) for bi-directional communication with the nomadic device (18). The fob (16) communicates with the telematics unit (12) in a conventional manner, and also relays information between the telematics unit (12) and the nomadic device (18). If a communication initiated via the fob (16) cannot be completed because the fob (16) is out of range, the communication is sent to the nomadic device (18) for network transmission to the telematics unit (12). If a communication initiated via the nomadic device (18) cannot be completed due to inadequate signal reception, the communication is sent to the fob (16) for RF transmission to the telematics unit (12).