Lose a key, it really smarts
When Alberta Rodriguez’s high-tech key got stuck in the ignition lock of her 1998 Mercedes-Benz a few weeks ago, the 63-year-old real estate agent in Downey was forced to have the car towed to a dealer.
The car was in the shop for a week and when Rodriguez got the car back, she was also handed a bill for $690 for a replacement key and a new ignition system.
“I was shocked,” Rodriquez said. “I was lucky that it happened at my house and not someplace else.”
Kate Barton, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, lost the “smart keys” to her 2001 Ford Focus in the sand at a beach party last summer.
Because the key codes were unavailable to duplicate, it cost her $265 to have her ignition reprogrammed and to get two replacement keys.
“No one ever warned me when I bought the car this could happen if I lost the keys,” Barton said.
Many new car keys, like those used by Barton and Rodriguez, contain a computer chip, or transponder, that is programmed with a PIN code that matches a code in the vehicle’s ignition.
If a different ignition key is used, without the correct code, the car’s computer will not accept it.
The auto industry has defended the smart keys and their higher costs, saying they are proving to be an effective deterrent to auto theft.
Nonetheless, motorists have found that replacing these lost or stolen keys can cost from $100 to $1,000, depending on the vehicle.
Key issues are a chronic problem for drivers. The Auto Club of Southern California says it received 44,000 emergency roadside service calls last year from people who lost their keys or locked their keys in the car.
In half the cases, the locksmiths had to take “extraordinary effort,” involving several hours of labor, to deal with not having the proper software codes for the smart keys.
And in 6,600 cases, they could not offer any assistance at all. That comes to almost 20 cases per day just in Southern California.
Costs rise when independent repairmen such as locksmiths have difficulty getting access to the electronic code information needed for replacement keys.
“People are upset,” said Steve Finnegan, manager of governmental affairs at the Auto Club.
For more than 18 months, discussions with the auto industry over the issue have dragged on with no resolution, according to Finnegan.
But Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) recently introduced legislation that would require automakers to provide vehicle owners with a secure way to obtain code information to reproduce many of the high-tech keys.
The proposal will have its first committee hearing in January.
“When a motorist buys a vehicle, he or she also buys everything needed to operate it” including the code information, said Alice Bisno, vice president for legislative affairs for the Auto Club, a co-sponsor of AB-714.
But Charles Territo, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said his organization opposes the proposed legislation.
“We in the industry believe we provide all the same service, training and diagnostic information to independent repairers and individuals as we do to our franchise dealer ... “ Territo said. “There are security issues involved with these keys.”
Jeanne Wright can be reached at jeanrite@aol.com.
