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Not really a new thing, though admittedly the costs are eye opening. Years ago I remember reading about issues with fiats. They were supplied new with 3 keys, one of which was blue (I think). Anyway, the blue key was like a master key, something to do with the immobiliser, and if you lost it, you would have to pay a small fortune to get a new one.
On a different, but still security related, note, years ago when I worked at a Saab dealer, I had managed to buy my 1st Saab, an old 99. I spoke to a mechanic about overcoming the problem of the locks freezing in winter. He told me to just leave the car unlocked!. That's what he did with his 900 turbo, said because the ignition key locked the car in reverse gear, it wasn't easy to steal one.
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Not really a new thing, though admittedly the costs are eye opening. Years ago I remember reading about issues with fiats. They were supplied new with 3 keys, one of which was blue (I think). Anyway, the blue key was like a master key, something to do with the immobiliser, and if you lost it, you would have to pay a small fortune to get a new one.
On a different, but still security related, note, years ago when I worked at a Saab dealer, I had managed to buy my 1st Saab, an old 99. I spoke to a mechanic about overcoming the problem of the locks freezing in winter. He told me to just leave the car unlocked!. That's what he did with his 900 turbo, said because the ignition key locked the car in reverse gear, it wasn't easy to steal one.
Close - we had two Puntos, Fiat supply them with a red 'master' key and two blue regular keys. As you say, all are uniquely linked to the immobiliser. Lose the blue keys = fine, just take the red key to a Fiat dealer and get a new blue key for £20.
Lose all three keys = £800 for a new immobiliser. In fairness to Fiat, you'd have to be extremely unlucky, or as thick as mince, to lose all 3 keys. And never buy a Fiat from the late 90s through to late 2000s without the red key, unless you negotiate a £1000 discount.
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A risk you take when you buy any modern vehicle with only one key, increasing the risk massively by choosing a grey import...as some may have found most Toyota dealers do or did not get involved with greys even to the point of the parts dept not being interested, the exceptions being some large 4x4's where the spec is usually simple and reasonably universal.
No one with any sense would rely only on one coded key, i have bought cars with one key but another is the first priority, i suspect the key transponder for the vehicle in question could have been copied onto another Toyota blank for reasonable cost by most competent key specialists, its once the key is lost you are in trouble.
As for home key security, well many of us have already, others will in due course, come to the conclusion that the once peaceful relatively safe Jerusalem of an island we were fortunate to live on (with all its previous faults) is no longer the idyll that we enjoyed as children, we are living through irreversible changes to our society, we no longer enjoy a fit for purpose law enforcement service able to deal effectively with hoodlums and others who wish us harm, so for our own very survival we have to make ourselves as secure as possible by whatever means we are prepared to take.
Edited by gordonbennet on 20/08/2017 at 08:42
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Aren't we supposed to be grateful for developments which have made cars increasingly difficult to steal?
This is just the logical outcome of such changes. As GB says, if you have only one key, you get another pronto. And if you buy a car with one key I would expect to pay a lower price.
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I'm not so sure the 'grey import' has any real implication here, plenty of cases of people with UK spec cars finding themselves in a similar situation when losing the last or only key they had.
Like GB said, if you have a car with only one key, a spare key has got to be the first priority of things to do.
One of the chaps at work dropped the keys when getting out of one of the Daf's, managed to put the key top back together after it had come apart from it's fall and thought nothing of it until an hour later when he tried to start the truck and found he couldn't. The transponder chip from the key had come out.
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The transit connect I use for my work came with one key only. I did think about getting another, but to get a proper one would cost a fortune. I could get a key cut, but was told it would only open the door, not start the van. I've had it nearly 7.5 years now, so touchwood and all that............!
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