I'm wondering what would happen if I used a regular key (one without the built-in immobilizer) to start my car.. It turns out that my dealer wants about $40 bucks to replicate the factory key... That sounds a little steep.. I ended up getting a standard key cut, which he said will open the doors but won't start the car... What would happen if I tried to start the car with this key?? I haven't tried that for fear that it'll self-destruct..

 

it just wont turn on the car. you can buy the chipped key on ebay for $20-25 bucks. and program it yourself

 

I can get the chipped blanks for $7, just cant program or cut it without the original.

 

40$ isn't actually steep at all, they use to be close to 100$!

 

I dont know if they have Ace Hardware in Ontario but the one I work at charges about $25 for a cut and coded transponder. The blanks only cost about $7 like i posted before though, and programing takes about 30 seconds, so I dont know why they charge so much.

 

xrunner,

How would I code the transponder? Can I do this myself?

 

shocker, sorry took me a while to respond. we have a little machine that reads the code off the original and writes it onto the copy. i think it was kind of expensive, so it would be cheaper to pay the $40 than do it yourself. i could sell you a blank, or if you sent me your valet key or something i could hook you up but i dont know if you want to do that.