Let me paint this scenario for you...

My mom has a TSX that she normally parks in the garage. Sometimes, she leaves the keys in the ignition, some times she doesn't. My mom works night shift, so she normally gets home at around 7 AM. Tuesday, she woke up and found the keys locked in the car even though she was 100% certain that she did not lock the doors behind her when she got out of the car last. She looked around for the spare keys and can't couldn't find them anywhere.

After hours of looking we found part of her keychain on a trail that is less than 100 yards away from the house where my dad usually walks the dogs. The key and fob were nowhere to be found, but the keychain was there. Remember, her normal set of keys were locked in the car in the garage. That means, someone had to have found the spare key and then walked around the neighborhood with the fob trying to see which car it belonged to.

My dad then remembered that he had moved the car out of the garage using the spare key (because this time the regular keys weren't in the ignition) on Monday. After pulling the car back into the garage, he took the dogs for a walk. He remembered that the dogs (they're overly friendly) ran up to some teenage kid (on a monday at around noon), and he tried to grab the dogs to keep them away from the kid, and he thinks he dropped the key right there in front of that kid (who was skipping school at the time and just sitting at the beginning of the trail for no reason). This means, it's very likely that the teenager has the key and the fob and was walking around the neighborhood clicking the button on the fob.

Anyway... the whole point of the story is this question.... If this happened to you, would you go and get all new keys and all new fobs from the dealer (which includes changing the ignition and door locks so that the old keys don't work anymore), or would you save yourself the money and just risk that your car may be stolen or broken into?

It sounds like a no-brainer to me to replace the keys, but my parents are having this huge blow-out argument over the whole issue because my father just doesn't think that anything will happen and it's unnecessary to waste the money changing the keys. I think he's being defensive because he's the one that lost the key in the first place, and my mom is basically saying since it's his fault, he has to pay.

Blame issues aside... would you replace all the keys and fobs in this situation?

 

From what you described, Yes. Or keep the car garaged whenever you park at home and change your comprehensive coverage deductible to $100 or less.

 

I think you can just get a new key and reset the chip. Although its still the same cut key and can open the doors but they cant start the car since it have learn a new code. Same as the FOB. No need to change the ignition and locks, thats alot of money. And maybe overtime the kid will forget about it since he cant find the car.

 

How do you go about resetting the chip though?

I don't know much about the chips in the keys work, but I thought it was coded so that it matched the ignition in some way. Can you just change the coding of the ignition and the keys that we already have? In that way, we'd only need to get 1 replacement key and fob as opposed to having to get 2 new sets of keys and fobs.

That would save a lot of money if it could be done... although I don't think my mom will be happy that someone could get into her car at any time.

 

Im not familiar with chips also. Best bet is to call your acura dealer and tell them you lost the keys and would rather not change the locks or ignition. They'll be able to give you options. Ive read that it was able to do on TL's. pretty sure its the same for TSX

 

When you unlock the car from the inside, the TSX will stay unlocked. When you unlock the car using the FOB, the TSX will lock the doors after a pre-set amount of time set by you on your MID.

If your Mom remembers leaving the door unlocked in the morning and later finding it locked. The kid found the car and unlocked the doors and the MID (or kid) locked it back. He probably didn’t see anything worth stealing and left to rob you on another day. The big “A” on the fob and key didn’t make it hard for him to find the car from 100 feet away.

The kid is not going to steal the car, he just going to take whatever he can carry off to sell. I would disable the FOB 1st. I haven’t tried to see if the car alarm will still sound if you open the door with the key only. Other cars I had, you needed to put the key in the ignition and start the vehicle to kill the alarm without the FOB.

 

I believe you can program a maximum of 3 fobs to any TSX. Just buy/get a replacement fob(s) and program all 3 again. The missing one will then not work anymore.

edit: A honda accord key can also be programmed as a fob (see Moda_Way's key fob mod). You can pick up an accord key on e-bay for about $15-$20. Weigh that against the cost of reprogramming your exisiting keys by the dealership.

 

The car was parked in the garage with the garage door closed. He wouldn't have been able to get in the garage.

I mean... there's plenty of explanations besides him wanting to steal the car. He could have been looking to give the keys back (unlikely, but possible). However, the fact is that he definitely went around trying to unlock the door, and like you said, the car automatically locks if the doors are not opened in a short amount of time.

And no... the car alarm does not sound if you open the door with just the key.

 

The fobs aren't the problem. The problem is someone in our neighboorhood has the ignition key and can break into the car and drive it away if he so desired. My dad even went as far as to file a police report (which I think is kind of overkill, but I guess it can't hurt), and the officer said that the description he gave matches that of a kid who they picked up a couple days ago trying to run away from home.

Therefore, the key could be in the hands of a troubled kid looking to run away from home. Changing the fobs will only make his current fob not work. He can still open the car and drive it away with the key if he so desired.

Of course, there's a 95% chance nothing will ever happen anyway, but there's a possibility, and I know I wouldn't want to wake up and find my TSX missing.

 

Ok, so the kid has the key AND the FOB...

hmm this is a tricky situation because even if you repogram the FOBS, it can simply be over ruled by the key the kid has.

As for actually keeping the car from being stolen, like other's said, keep in the garage etc etc. Or, as gay as it sounds, buy something like "the club" or whatever to prevent the car from being stolen. Yes thieves can easily get around thisblah blah blah.. but it's a preventative measure.

To keep stuff from being stolen on the inside of the car.. hmmmm. That's a tricky one.

 

Well... I've told my mom to take anything of value out of the car. I don't think she's going to get the Club (lol.. by the way), but it would probably work to stop the car from being stolen. I don't think this kid is a professional car thief.

Who knows... maybe the keys will turn up eventually. The officer said he would look into it (whatever that means). She'll just have to keep the car in the garage for a little while until we either get the key back or get new ones.

 

knowing that someone has the ability to open my car up, yes! New keys and new locks, being 2 (ignition and door) or 4 if you care about the glove compartment and trunk latch lock.

After that, u can erase all FOBs from the ECU and just program the one you have left or any new one you may purchase.

So im my opinion, I would. But then again, I live in near San Francisco

 

Without a doubt, I would change the keys. End of story. The couple hundred dollars to change the keys is far less of a cost than losing a $28,000 car...

 

man, this is movie material! if i were you, i would go around to the studios and start shopping it.

 

Remington 870 or Mossberg 500 can be had for about $300. How much to re-key the whole car?

 

can i ask why your mom leaves the KEY inside teh car's ignition?

 

you'd have to wait til the movie's released to find out.

 

Wow that sucks dude. I would actually change everything just because of the fact that someone can get into my car...Think of it this way...
Would you rather spend a couple hundred on changing locks or would you rather have the kid take it, crash it and then have 1000's of dollars worth of damage to your car..Anything is possible....Lets hope nothing happens if you decide to leave it like that though...Good luck man.

 

Since one key is missing and I assume a replacement is needed. Go to the dealer with the existing key and pay for one new key and programming. Ask them to re-code the immobilizer and ECU to the new key and synch up the existing key to the new code. Then get a new keyfob and reprogram that as well. The missing keyfob won't work anymore and the missing key won't start the car. However, the missing key is still able unlock the car and disable the alarm system. If the car is always in the garage, then it shouldn't be a huge problem.

 

depends on the neighborhood. i'd probably not do it. but i don;t know how expensive it is. maybe it's worth it if just a couple hundred bucks.

 

If you replace all the lock cylinders and ignition switch, the dealer probably won't be able to use the VIN to duplicate replacement keys in the future.

 

Don't ever leave your keys in the car. Never. One way or the other this will be an expensive object lesson.

 

Actually... funny as it sounds, had my mom left her keys in the car the day before this happened, my dad wouldn't have had to get the spare key to back it out of the garage. Then, he wouldn't have taken the keys back out of the ignition, and they wouldn't have been lost.

You're right though... I never leave my keys in my car.

 

yea id tell ur dad to find that kid and make him give it back

 

Wait, I'm sort of confused. Are you saying that the reason why your mom's set of keys were locked inside the car (in the ignition) is because some kid was walking around the neighborhood hitting the button on the lost fob?

That can't be the case. With a key in the ignition the fob's lock button is disabled, and the lock button on the door inside the car is also disabled. In an Acura, you're gonna have to try hard to lock your keys in the ignition.

 

Hide in some bushes across the street from where the kid lives. When he comes home late one night, yell "Hey!" and calmly walk over to him and very close to him in a low voice let him know you know where he sleeps and that if any cars in the neighborhood ever go missing first you're telling the cops to check him out and second he's going to get hurt bad.

Then change nothing on your car because it will be a fun experiment to see how nothing ever happens. You will have spent zero money and developed trust, even if through fear.

 

Just get an aftermarket alarm. This is just some punk kid so he'll just run away when he sets it off.

 

I got the story second hand. All I know is that the keys were in the car. They may not have been in the ignition but they were in the car. She carries this huge bag everywhere she goes and sometimes the keys go in there. I suppose she could have left the keys in the bag in the car. I'll have to ask.

You have to see her keys by the way... She has a million things attached to her keychain. I swear they weigh like 5 lbs. She has a big cannister of mace on the chain, 2 fobs (1 Acura, and 1 for a remote starter), a tiny flashlight thing, several small shiny girly things. It's like she thinks she's friggin MacGuyver and wants to be prepared for any situation.

 

the second fob is disabled? or only the fob in the ignition? i've never tested this.

 

I actually just checked this:

The second fob is disabled as well as the one in the ignition. You cannot lock your car door with any fob while the keys are in the ignition. It's very very hard to lock your keys in an Acura... of course, that doesn't stop my parents.

 

Yeah, no locking the doors with any fob if a key is in the ignition. It's been that way for Honda's since my 99 Accord.

 

So, someone has to manually lock the doors from the outside with a key then... very strange.

 

f the movie. you got enough here for a soap opera..

 

Ok, have you ever seen Gone in Sixty Seconds, the movie? The dog eats the keys, maybe your dog did too

But seriously, i would probably just get an aftermarket alarm as well....or pay for the change if necessary!

 

^^ The best advice yet.

 

You guys have it all wrong! The solution is EASY. Just move to a new house.

 

UPDATE


The police actually found the lost set of keys today. Some "kid" in the neighborhood had them. Apparently, he had no intention of turning them in, but his mother found him with the keys and turned them in. I don't know how the police found the kid (did they go knocking door to door???), but regardless, my mother got her keys back, so no harm done.

 

Soooooooooooo. What happens if he went and made a copy of the key.. then when your mom is out of town he gets into the car and takes your owner's manual. Then he uses the VIN # and whatever other numbers in there to order another set from Acura. Then he waits for your mother to be out of town again and then uses the new keyset to steal the car?

 

Soooooooooooo. What happens if he went and made a copy of the key.. then when your mom is out of town he gets into the car and takes your owner's manual. Then he uses the VIN # and whatever other numbers in there to order another set from Acura. Then he waits for your mother to be out of town again and then uses the new keyset to steal the car?

Edit: fixed

 

Troublemaker


Glad this came to favorable resolution.