Yeah so my moms purse got stolen at work and she had the extra key and remote in her purse. This happend a few weeks ago and nothing has happend yet but its still bothering me. Just wondering what you guys would do in this situation. There is a club on there now but it looks real tacky and im reluctant to put it on except where the key and remote got stolen. I talked to the dealership and to have the locks and all the keys replaced would cost about $1000. Reprograming the key = still able to get into the car. Any suggestions as what to do?

 

Can't the dealer re-program the keys/car so that the stolen key won't deactivate the ignition cutoff? I thought there was a programmable chip in each key that could be re-programmed, but I'm not really sure how that stuff works.

 

huh?

 

Yes. Take the car to the dealer. Give them the remote and key you *do* have and have them reprogram the car and then re-code the key....and I guess get them to program a new key too. The new key and remote will be expensive, so prepare yourself for that....

But, definitely go to the dealership. Remember, there are relatively few TSXs out there....so, when whoever stole the key sees one, it's easy to see if the remote works on the car (not like, say, a Caravan, where there's hundreds of thousands of them around, and they'll give up pretty quick trying the remote....).

 

If you just recode the key and fob it doesn't prevent that person from opening the door of the car. The door lock isn't chipped. They need to replace the whole lock mechanism and cut new keys to fit.

Maybe the dealer would be willing to swap the locks from another TSX on the lot and you can still recode the fob. The thief would no longer be able to open your door and the chances of them tracking down the Acura with the lock that you swapped is nearly impossible. Theif is going to have to walk around the city trying every Acura he sees (nothing on the key tells you its for a TSX).

 

I believe TSX can have maximum 3 remotes only. Program another 2 extra remotes and the stolen one will be rejected altogether. (Correct me if I am wrong) As for the key, if you don't use the remote to unlock the car and uses the key only, the alarm will still be activated. Go give it a try.

 

unlocking with a key doesn't set off the alarm.

 

I second esr5096. Unlock with the key should not set off the alarm at all.

The other scenario maybe if you are inside the car, lock the door with the remote and try to use the key to start the engine, I think the alarm should trigger no matter which key you use. Please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks!

 

No, the alarm wont trigger if you start with the key after locking with the remote. The scenario that sets off the alarm is when it is set and a door lock tab is pulled up. My 4yo daughter demonstrated this inside a dealership. That was fun. The logic is that if the lock tab is pulled up while the alarm is on, the window must have been broken. Which is a faulty assumption because it's possible to set the alarm on with the windows down.

 

can u recode the immobilizer? not sure if thats possible...but at least whoever stole the key wouldnt be able to start the car and drive off with it.

 

OK, I was wrong above. Starting w/ the key while the alarm is on WILL set it off. Tested it myself. Sorry for the bogus info, spc.

 

Anytime!

 

Oh, and since they stole her purse, there's probably identifying info inside that tells the thief where she lives (and where the car is parked at night)? I don't want you to be paranoid, but it may be worth getting it fixed.

On the other hand, it'd be cheaper to add an aftermarket alarm than to pay the dealer $1000 to reset everything (locks + codes). And and aftermarket alarm would pretty much make the stolen keys useless. They could manually unlock the car with the key, but the alarm would go off when they opened the door, and the car would be immobilized.

As always, I reserve the right to be somewhat or completely wrong...

 

What would be a good aftermarket alarm system thats not too expensive? Say 200 bucks max. Or is that too low of a number?

 

Yeah, around 200 sound reasonable. However, you can easily get one double that price or so. Even that, still much lower than the dealer asking for and you get a very good alarm system.

 

On my CRV, it does set off the alarm too when I use the key to open the door. I will try it later to confirm.

 

well in my accord, the alarm will not go off if i just use the key. but it may be differnt on the new ones. I have a 02

 

hmmm.... My bad. TSX alarm will not set off if use key. :P

 

Don't know how, but the key and remote fell out of my pocket. Now I'm just trying to figure out a couple of things:

1) Likelihood of someone finding my keys AND figuring out which car it belongs to.
2) If I change the remotes all together, will the remotes have a different code and therefore now one can walk around trying to push "Panic" to see which car those keys belong to? There are a LOT of TSXs around here, so I think if someone is bold enough to find it using "Panic", then that's the only real way someone will find my car... I can deal with people having a key to my car probably, but to find it that easily would give me a nervous breakdown.

Thoughts? Can I buy new remotes and programming them and safely not have someone find my car via "Panic" etc?

Please advise!

Stupid me!!!!

 

my pop lost my keys and remote, i had all my locks changed and everything recoded. it was upwards of $700, BUT THE PEACE OF MIND WAS WORTH IT

 

when you say your got locks changed and recoded, do you mean you had new locks done at the dealer, the remotes were somehow code changed so that the old remote would not work, and the ignition was rekeyed? $700 actually sounds kinda low for that extensive of work! At dealer? Thanks...

 

This resurrected thread was started in 2003, now it's 2007.

 

Haha, sorry... figured it was better than making a whole new thread...

 

No need to be sorry. There is nothing wrong with resurrecting an old relevant thread.

 

yes

 

So if you guys start your cars with the key without disarming the alarm the alarm goes off?

I'm assuming that this is the same for the TL? So what would we do if our key FOBs died?

 

When you unlock the car with the key, the alarm is disarmed. Then you simply put the key in the ignition to start the engine.

 

thats what i thought but the other posts made it seem like that didnt happen...