Just wanted to add, on many vehicles, the _key_ is not programmable. rather, the scan tool or key replacment procedure programs the vehicle ECM (computer) to recognize the key. What's more, certain make/models have ECM with a limit on the number of keys they will recognize, and no way to "free" a key code no longer used; IOW, once you've programmed the vehicle for new keys 10 times (typically, might be more/less) that particular vehicle will not be able to have any more new keys added without a new ECM too. Good luck with that.
Interesting. This car's had the original key replaced (insurance only paid for one key when the original van came with two) so I bought a second one, chipped, for $75 at TruValue by giving them the new key (the older, original keys will open, but not start, the van). So now I have two and that's probably enough because I can always clone the second key if the first is lost. I've got an entry only key for the wallet (had them make a plain copy - which doesn't work - bad cutting - but which will be recut by TruValue when I return to them). Now I have to see if I can hide the chipped spare in the car somewhere far enough from the steering column that it's not "seen" by the immobilizer circuit.
The reason I've asked all this is today I parked in a lot next to a storm drain grate and dropped my keys. Only exceptionally good luck kept them from sliding right into oblivion so I began to wonder how much of a tragedy that would be as I began to look for a chain to attach the keys to my pant's belt loop.
Good input from everyone and not the comedy fest I had feared with a potential straight line like the subject "What happens?" What happens is you could be seriously screwed or inconvenienced and for $75 it might not be a bad idea to buy some more insurance. I might even ask Tru-Value to give me the code for the chip in the key (they have to have a reader) that I can write on the wallet key as a little more (and cheaper) insurance that a locksmith can get me in if I screw up and dump the keys in a black hole.
Yes, that's what I will do when I get Tru-Value to rework the plain key I had made for my wallet so even if I lost the keychain, I could wait for the locksmith INSIDE the van!
Okay. $75 isn't a bad 1-time insurance premium to pay to make sure I've always got an original. That seems to be the "key" to the whole chipped key problem. Life is *probably* going to be easier if you either have the code number and a plain metal key or a spare chipped key - or both. Thanks!
I carry a spare un-chipped key in my wallet that will get me into the car. To start it I have a spare chipped key well hidden inside the car. Ace hardware will make a chip key for around $75 (which is a bargain over the dealer). Carrying a spare chiped key in the wallet hurts my ass because they are so thick.
If I manage to lose nine keys or have nine more teenage kids try to steal it, I'll just give up on driving. I'll have to look up the bill. I believe my insurance company and I were charged about $400 for a new immobilizer. Had a $500 deductible - total bill for kids popping the door and then the steering column lock was over $1,000.
Hook the programmer up to the car's computer and download the code required to program the key.
If the original key was required, then I doubt *anyone*, including the dealer, would be able to duplicate the key.
Here's a related, and somewhat humorous, story.
I coach Girl's Softball. The team met in the high school parking lot and we all boarded the bus. A few minutes down the road our short stop's cell phone rang. Turns out Mom has one of those push-button- start cars where all you have to do is have the key nearby, like in a pocket, to start it. It also turns out that Mom had let the daughter drive the car to the school with Mom in the passenger seat. Guess who still had the keys in their pocket? The girl on the bus!
Mom was worried that the car was going to stall on the way home and wanted us to come back. Even though it was still running, she assumed that it wouldn't stay running without the key nearby. We weren't about to turn around, so she took a chance and drove home (about a mile). She made it home, moved her husband's car out of the driveway so she didn't block it in and then shut her car down, leaving it sit until late that night when we got back from our game.
I guess they'll stay running even if the key is moved away from the vehicle. ===============================================
That's an interesting test. I think I am going to hide the spare key somewhere in the vehicle - just where might have to be decided by testing. Might have to put it a metal box like a magnetic key holder. Thanks for the information!
When the car's steering wheel lock was popped, the dealer ended up having to give me a new chip - the old keys opened the door but wouldn't start the car.
Sounds like a plan. I've always carried a wallet spare but those huge RF heads can sit you so off center it throws your back out of whack. The hidden key with a bunch of non-chipped entry keys in various places with maybe even the code, if the TruValue guy will give it to me.
FWIW, I read an article a while back that said out-of-town referral companies were gaming Google and were "muscling in" on the city locksmith trade by implying they were local when they were really an hour or more away. They did it by buying telephone numbers in different areas of the city to give them recognizable exchanges that people would call believing they were in that very area. The catch was that they were all remote call forwarded to the one location the guy had in town that sometimes was very far away. I believe I read it in the SF Chronicle when checking on whether they really could pass a law making baby weenie whacking (circumcision) against the law. Now that's really nanny-state thinking.
Anyway that was a few months ago and when I went to the Yellow pages tonight to call a locksmith (as I believe you suggested!) I saw a suspicious series of ads and realized I was probably seeing the same thing in the Yellow Pages that article described: One locksmith that was working hard to appear that he was local and close by to answer the call when he really wasn't. That's close to fraud, IMHO, and just shows you have to know what questions to ask.
I always ask call center people what country there are in. Many refuse, some are proud to say (mostly India), more are saying "America" than there used to be and some don't understand any question that is not on their menu. If they fail that test, I ask directly "Are you located in America?" When you introduce a language complication into an already difficult technical support situation, it almost never gets any better.
On some Fords at least you get something like 8 active keys max by default, but the dealer or someone else with the VCM/IDS laptop can set the PCM to unlimited mode which is intended for fleet use.
I got one at a Ford dealer for $30 and a couple more for $20 one at a Lincoln dealer (I now have four keys for each of two vehicles). I programmed the computer, though. It was ~$50, each, to have the dealership program them.
That makes sense. I also realized that if you had your key off to a valet parker for more than an hour or two that THEY could easily clone the key, toss the car looking for an address and pick up your car a few weeks later, easy as pie.
Yesterday, my dentist gave my wife's phone number to some guy who alleged she banged into her car in the parking lot and didn't leave a note. They didn't step outside to look at the "alleged" damage, they didn't say "call the cops and we'll give it to them, not you" or even "We'll call her and ask her to call you." She's fuming mad and so am I. You'd think that even a phone number would be privileged information under the Federal medical privacy laws.
My wife, who's been going to the same dentist for 25 years is more steamed that the dentist/staff would believe she's a "hit and run" artist. I'm tempted to call my lawyer buddy and ask if they can give out a patient's phone number to anyone, even someone they know (we haven't established who this person is or if someone on the staff knew them).
Most peculiar and really upsetting to my wife who thinks that the dental office should now pay to have her phone number changed (we still keep a landline each). This is a publicly listed land line, too, so now this cretin has our address. Time to clean and oil the Glock.
On other front in the war on privacy, I bought a pair of shoes yesterday at Payless and the clerk asked for my phone number, to which I just said "No" so he just took my cash and rang me up. At the bottom of the receipt its says: "Good news, Payless has settled the text messaging class action lawsuit. If you received a text message from us . . . you may be eligible for a $25 credit."
What's going ON with this world? The right to privacy is slowly but surely being erased.
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