( 
)This is meant to be a general guide and helpful pointers to assist folks in purchasing Keyless Entry Remotes and Transponder keys. We believe in trying educate folks on how these items operate, what it will take to get them operable with your vehicle, and how to buy them before you make a purchase !
We not only sell keys and remotes, we also program about 85 to 90 percent of them at our retail store location in NJ. We have invested in some expensive equipment to do a lot of these items. This gives us a very distinct advantage over a lot of sellers that do not have the equipment or knowledge we have, and that rarely or never have actually done the procedures. We set them up. We know how it is done. We know the trouble spots on a great many of the procedures. We have personally set up hundreds of remotes and keys ourselves on many makes, and models of vehicles. At best a good dealer will know about their product. We have vast knowledge across a wide range of vehicles. We also cut keys, including so called laser cut or high security keys.- In order to use a keyless entry remote, your vehicle MUST have the system on board. If you recently purchased the vehicle and are not certain, try calling a dealer, provide them with the VIN, and ask if your vehicle was produced with the keyless entry system. Most dealers will look up your vehicle and give you this info. If you can get the FCC or GM number from them, you will have all you need to purchase a remote in most cases. If they will only provide you the part number, this will not help with most vendors as that only identifies the item to a dealer. This is not what these items operate on.
- It is NEVER advisable to purchase a remote based solely on how it looks, or because it looks like the remote you have. Many remotes may appear identical, but they are not necessarily so.
Many vehicles these days can have different features. You must have the proper unit for the
vehicle year, make, model, and the features that car / truck has as well. An example of this
is a remote start button. You can not simply purchase a remote with the remote start button,
and expect it to work. It will not. If your car does not have remote start system, you need a different unit.
Some vehicles can have one or two sliding doors. These units may also be different and are often NOT
interchangeable.
- The FCC ID or GM numbers are typically located on the back of most remotes,
are going to important deciding factors in obtaining the proper unit for your vehicle. If you have a working unit, you will need the same unit for your second keyless entry remote. Nothing else is going to work. Even aftermarket units ( Viper, DEI, Pursuit, etc ) run on the FCC ID.
- ALL keyless entry remotes must be programmed with the vehicle. Rarely, except a certain few manufacturers, can send you a pre-programmed remote that is going to be ready to go. Basically, they all need to be set up with the vehicle, and all remotes are typically required to be present that are intended to be used with the vehicle.
- Programming - This varies from car to car and manufacturer to manufacturer. Remote programming is often completely separate from key programming, even if they are one unit. Many units can be self programmed. Many can not. On some combo units, you can self program the remote, but NOT the key. Some are easy, others are more difficult. All can take patience, persistence, and numerous attempts to get it done. It often takes us many tries, so giving up after one or two attempts is not going to do it many times. Most of the larger vendors providing you programming, are almost certainly giving you tried and true info. It will not be something they made up. We have a large database of information that has been used by a great many people, including us. We know for the most part it is accurate and works. So if you announce it does not work, typically means that the person programming has made an error in spite of their belief that they did everything " to the letter." Generally speaking, Programming is a 3 phase process that typically goes like this. Phase1: Get the vehicle into the " program mode." This is often signified by the locks cycling, an audible tone, or the flashers blinking depending on the make of the vehicle. This phase often does not even require the remote be present. If you can't get this far, then something else is going on. You may have a car problem, or more than likely you are not doing some part of the procedure properly. Phase 2: This is typically the actual segment where the remote gets programmed to the vehicle. Often the vehicle will respond in some way in this phase as well. Again, this can be lock cycling, audible tone, etc depending on the particular vehicle. Phase 3: Closing out of the procedure, and checking the remotes for proper activation.
- Vehicle Keys - Many vehicle keys have become very sophisticated. Most, but not all, newer keys have a chip in them that must be programmed to the vehicle. The chip can be referred to as a transponder chip, or an immobilizer chip. They are one in the same. We have equipment that not only detects the presence of a chip, but can also read what kind it is. many dealers do not even have this equipment. Most of these, but certainly not all need to be programmed with special equipment. Some keys are called Smart keys, or proximity keys. These often will have no physical location to insert a key as most folks know into a key slot. This type of key only needs to be in the vehicle console or on the driver. A push button is then used in most cases to actually start the vehicle. NONE of these can be self programmed. If you purchase a smart key, and you do not have the smart system in your vehicle, it will NOT work even though they may look the same or similar.
- A Word about Dealers - Many are great, but many dealers these days are less than candid about remotes and keys. They will often have a host of excuses, mislead you, give half truths, or even flat out lie about items brought to them for programming. This may be a ploy to get you to buy their item at a much great cost. Some are not very educated about their own products or these things in general. We have proven a number of dealers to be VERY wrong and completely inaccurate with their info. Dealers are NOT gospel, and do make errors all the time. They will rarely, if ever admit to a mistake or error on their part because they are supposed to know about their product. They will blame the product or anything else they can so they don't appear to wrong or on the hook to pay for their mistakes. Recent examples we experienced: 1. An Audi dealer claimed the key had a Honda Chip and it messed up the system. This was nothing short of laughable. 2. A Honda dealer claimed a key was wrong because it did not have a special mark on the blade. The customer went to a good auto locksmith and promptly had the same key programmed without a hitch. 3. A Volvo dealer claimed that a remote could not be programmed without a pin number, and yet a day later a different Volvo dealer programmed the same remote for the customer with no problem whatsoever. 4. Dealer claimed the remote was " NO GOOD." Customer called us and we were able to assist him over the phone to program that very same remote to his car in less than 5 minutes. High end car dealers can be very persnickety and not want to help you. This is why we strongly urge folks to check around in their area before buying to make sure they can get the help they will need. A great alternative to dealers is a good auto locksmith. You may want to check the autolocksmithfinder site for a capable business in your area for assistance. They are often just as capable, more receptive to you arriving with the hardware, and cheaper than a dealer.
We hope that you have found all the information presented here to be helpful.
Guide created: 07/02/10 (updated 28/09/10)
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