I have a 2011 car with the smart key. It cost me $69.00 to get a new one made at Ace hardware. They selected a similar key, put mine in some sort of digital query/copy machine. It beeped and flashed lights and after 2-3 minutes announced the new key was ready. It starts the car just fine.
The dealer wanted around $170.00 to make me one. The Ace Hardware version has a slightly larger “head” on the key, but it’s just a backup (that doesn’t ride in my pocket).
We were quoted $400 to replace our key by the dealer. We ended up going with a guy who works out of his truck & he gave us 2 copies for $250. My sister gave us his name after she used him rather than getting one from her car dealer for in excess of $600.
Does your Ace Hardware key have a lock/unlock remote? And a remote for both side doors and rear hatch? A panic button? I doubt it.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. Since I’ve never used the panic button on purpose, I’d be happy to see it go.
My only point was that you won’t get a remote multi-button fob replaced at Ace for a few bucks.
And I never use the panic button either.
If you have one key you may be able to make a couple normal (non-chip) copies of it and then tape the chipped version to the bottom of your steering column. Just the presence of the chip should allow the car to start.
Of course that’s overriding the security benefits of the chipped key.
Maybe on some cars but I know for a fact it does not work for all cars.
I just bought a 2007 Accord that only came with 1 key (with the remote built in). I called around to local dealerships that wanted as much as $150 for a new one. But one was substantially cheaper. I bought two spare blanks on eBay for $25 each. They were identical to the original, with the remote. The dealership charged $52 total to program and cut both. So for about $100, I got two keys that would have cost $300 from other dealerships.
Moral: shop around.
So the remotes used on Volvos require both an 8 digit and a 16 digit alpha numeric codes to program them into the car using the the factory scan tool.
The codes come with a new remote (label printed on the package)
Once the package is thrown away there is no way to retrieve the codes out of the remote.
About once every two or three weeks a customer would show up with a remote purchased on eBay.
They never had the codes, and I would have to tell them that they had purchased a very nice paperweight.
Moral of the story: Know what the hell you are shopping for and will it do what you want.
So it’s a matter of programming the car to accept the keys? For some reason, I was thinking it was the other way around.
In any case, it would appear that Honda doesn’t use Volvo’s method: no codes were provided with the blank keys I got, and the dealership had no problem doing whatever it took to make the new keys work.
Depending on your car it is sometimes possible to program new keys yourself, or rather convince your car to accept the new keys. After getting the new keys cut you go through a series of turning the car on with two old keys, then turning it on with the new key. This adds the new key’s code to the computer’s memory.
This works with the Ford Passive Anti-Theft System and some others. I used a modified method to change the ignition cylinder and add keys without needing to call a locksmith or take it to the dealer.
No. Just the key itself, and whatever wizardry within that convinces the engine that they’re friends. My car (truck actually) doesn’t have the remote unlock.
We bought my wife’s vehicle used from a rental place. They gave us one key but offered to pay for another if I sent them the bill from a dealership. I eventually got around to getting a copy made at a hardware store but never to the dealership. The “copy” will start the ignition but it promptly shuts back off.
Oddly for this vehicle “keyless entry” means exactly that. If you actually use the key to open the door manually the panic alarm goes off. Even if I use the programmed key.
It’s worth noting a significant number of such stolen cars are NOT stock. It is not uncommon for ricers to race for parts: the winner gets to plunder wheels, engines, stereo, etc. leaving the loser with a new project to start. When you’ve got $10k+ of performance parts rolling around on a $1,500 platform it’s quite tempting to recover some of those costs from your insurance company by crying, “Someone jacked my ride!” Add to that, racing tends to create a demand for body panels and we see why uncle Freddy’s unmodified 94 Prelude went missing.
Chip-key cars still go missing, but as has been mentioned, overcoming the security system is a trivial enterprise when you’re in the business of moving large numbers of late model vehicles.
??? WTF?
Go back read post 12 in this thread and explain to me how this is trivial and just what you would consider to be a non trivial solution.
I could almost believe this is part of it, except that the 94 Accord was quite possibly the dullest vehicle Honda has ever produced. It was the end of the transition of the Accord from a sporty up-market compact to dull midsize sedan. My SO had one and I was always hoping it would live up to its reputation and get stolen so I could buy something more interesting, but no such luck.
Not trivial for the ‘gone in 60 seconds’ meth head who targets less secure vehicles to be stripped.
Trivial for the organized criminal with bolt cutters and a flatbed wrecker and/or jack dolly. We’ve even seen criminals who’ve used their own key & computer parts they’ve scavenged from salvaged vehicles. Although I can’t say for sure they had the huevos to do the electrical work in the victim’s driveway or if they dragged it off to their lair first. Trivial is relative, I guess. I didn’t mean to imply it is as easy as jamming an ignition cylinder with a screwdriver & a hammer.
Rick, not quite the right interpretation, absolutely nothing can be done at user level, it seems theat the whole architecture is under criticism. The original paper seems not to be public anymore, I’ve cited newspaper accounts.
One of the examples was quite clear though, researchers, using a linked laptop and receiver, managed to open and start a car, by picking up the key communication codes from the keys at a restaurant table. Two operators and a few hunded dollars of hardware (and a big research lab).
This paper also went into the fact that car electronic systems were not conceived to be protected against volontary or accidental intrusion.
If one of you has access to the national research libraries, it must be possible to retreive the paper, but nothing useful for the individual except knowledge.
OK expressed as a percentage, rounded to the nearest one hundredth of a percent, what is your estimation of the number of car thieves that carry laptops equipped with the ability to scan the chip on the key in your pocket?
I’m going to go with 0.00%
While if what you say is true, it may be possible to overcome the electronic security in a car, you still have the physical security on many cars of both the door lock and ignition lock.
And since car thieves as a group are not computer nerds, the current level of security is adequate IMHO.
Car thieves are all kinds of people and they target different vehicles depending on what they’re after. I’m just sayin if there is an illicit market for the car, an expedient workaround for its OEM security system will be found within days of the vehicle’s release to the public. Which is not the same thing as saying the chip key thing is a scam with no value to the customer, but it’s still just deterrence with no guaranty of success.