I recently lost my only fob while snowshoeing on vacation in CT last week. My car was towed 50+ miles to the nearest dealership. I managed to immediately get 2 fobs via ebay and brought them to the Acura dealership where my car was towed for programming (and had them cut a new key). They spent 3+ hrs and told me the fobs I brought were defective. After trying with one of their new fobs (agreeing to an additional $460.00 for a new fob) they got the same error message, "registration failed". They told me the computer software needed to be updated in order to program a new fob. I have now been informed that they did the software update and still getting the same error message. They said I need a new immobilizer in my car and this is the only way to get the car started ($1550). I feel like since my car worked fine prior to loosing my key its unlikely its my immobilizer but I don't know what else to do? I just called Acura client services to get them involved but if anyone has any ideas? Thanks!

 

It's a long shot, but do a battery reset. Disconnect both terminal cables, and hold the cables together for at least a minute. When electronics are involved, things can get stuck in strange states and need to be reset.

Also, make sure the battery is good.

 

my advice here is DO NOT GET PRESSURED...

This process of up selling can get ugly if they know they have you on the ropes.

 

Call a locksmith. They have tools that can program new keys to a ECU that bypass a bunch of the BS the Honda systems have. I am pretty sure you can pick up a ECU, immobilizer antenna and key from a junk yard much cheaper.

 

As someone who has actually done the Key Fob programming on the RL numerous times, my guess is that they had more than one key fob in or near the car at the time of programming. Whether that is because they are stupid and didn't only bring one into or close to the car at a time, or they left one fob in the car and didn't realize it is hard to say, but for sure you get a registration failure message when the car cannot only identify ONE fob at a time during registration. That's the only thing I can think of.

Also, as another test, have them register the physical key that they cut for you and see if that works. Registering the FOB and physical KEY are separate procedures. If registering the key works, I doubt there is an immobilizer issue. Since physical key registration isn't messed up by having fobs near the car, it should work if my theory above is correct.

Hope this helps...

 

^ maybe the "lost" fob is inside the car and therefore the programming behavior you describe

 

Update:

Acura client services reviewed the situation and agreed that the dealership was following proper repair protocol. They agreed to cover the repair (and program the two fobs) except for 350.00. Once they put the new immobilizer in the car that said they had no problems programming the two used fobs. Car is being delivered to me tomm am. I asked for the old immobilizer which my local dealership may test for me bc they said it was really odd for the immobilizer to fail. I really don't know who to believe. Acura client services said my immobilizer could have been dead for years and you wouldn't know until you tried to reprogram a new fob to it.

Thanks for the info.

 

Interesting. Glad Acura came through for you.

 

thanks for circling back