Dpak

Alright, so get this. I pull up to my dealership to get my B1 service done as well as some other small things checked up. The technician is a cool guy and gets me set up and tells me 90 minutes. Cool, no big deal. I go across the street to grab some lunch and shopping with my S.O. and head back after a few hours. Usually they would call me informing me if the car isn't ready at the time they estimated so I was a bit confused. I walk into the dealership and my technician pulls me aside and tells me that they lost my keys after the washed the car.

Literally, I can see my car parked outside and they lost it somewhere between there and the cashier's desk. The technician is getting really heated at the porters, washers, and the cashiers since one of them had lost my keys. He apologized sincerely and had me go home in a rental car without worrying about mileage or gas. (4cyl TLX Tech, such a downgrade from my TL Shawd ) I tell him that I have some important business documents in the back seat of my car and didn't feel safe in case someone found my keys later so he cuts me a new key on the spot within 20 minutes to manually unlock the car. (Just the key, no fob)

Anyways, the tech tells me that they will try to find my keys today and once they find it they will deliver my car to my house and swap the loaner so I don't have to make the trip back. This happened about 9-10 hours ago and I haven't gotten a phone call from them so I am assuming the worst. What should I do in this situation? I'm worried someone might have stolen my key and something may happen in the future. (I do have a dash cam installed that only records when the car is on though.)

PAK74

Ugh! That's pretty strange...maybe call your auto insurance and keep them in the loop? I have never heard of something like this happening so don't know what else to tell ya..

Which dealership was this? Maybe also check yelp or other reviews to see if they have had any other issues...hopefully it's truly human error and they will do right by you.

potmilkz

well they cant start the car without the fob.. but they can put it in neutral and push it in to their work station and possibly make a new key for you.. it is programmed with the car... so i think you should be fine.. i just think they are taking their time so that they dont have to pay out of pocket for a new key.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

if they cant find it; have them program NEW KEYS for you, on their dime

wreak

Look at the bright side, at least you'll get a shiny new keyfob.

TacoBello

I'd just ask for a new car, instead.

echodigital

I hope you get new key fobs! TacoBello...that is also a great option!

thoiboi

VanyDotK

iTrader: (6)

That's what I'm tacoin' about!

Dpak

Update on the incident, the dealership still could not find my keys and had to program me a new key fob. They had a porter deliver the car back to me and hand over both the new fob and also the dummy key to open the actual door manually that they made for me on the first day.

I raised the issue about a worse case scenario where perhaps an employee might have pocketed my key and later may come to steal my car and the tech guaranteed that that would never happen. I read that when this kind of incident happens, the dealership should reprogram new keys and change locks on the cars as a security measure but he laughed. Im glad that all of this is finally taken care of but there's still a missing fob out there with my name on it.

Maybe if my car does get stolen though, I can go back and cash in that guarantee for a new car

'99-6SIC6

The only thing you would have to worry about if/when your lost key/fob is found would be the actual key portion still being able to open your door and glovebox cylinders. The new fob portion you received is coded to the vehicle's immobilizer with new criteria and renders the old, lost fob - useless. That's why when clients come into the dealership and ask us for new keys to be cut/programmed, we always specify that ALL existing keys be present so that all the new criteria for coding be the same in each component. So yes, technically someone could enter your vehicle if they had the key but starting the vehicle would be impossible without the new fob as well. Sorry to hear about the dealer's mistake in this situation.

-greg
Honda of Chantilly

ncxvtguy83

iTrader: (1)

I agree with your statment, except the fact that the OP did not mention the dealer reprogramming Two new smart key fobs. It appears they only programmed one, meaning the coding is still the same. An easy way to test that is if the OP tries using his spare smart key fob and see if that works. If it works and assuming the dealer did not reprogram it as well then chances are the lost/stolen key fob still works.

If that is the case, I would demand they reprogram both smart key fobs with new codes.

ITSJESTER

I would not feel comfortable at all if there was even a small possibility of someone else being able to enter my car. I would treat this as a real safety concern. To me at least, it's one thing if I was the only one who used the car, but what if my girlfriend was using the car and someone was waiting in the backseat?

Too many crazies out there. I would absolutely demand that they reprogram with new codes and give you two brand new fobs and all new locks. It's one thing for the dealer to lose the key, mistakes do happen. They should not be scrutinized too much for this aspect of the situation. But they should bend over backwards to make sure that the situation is fully remedied to your complete satisfaction.

Just my two cents...

'99-6SIC6

The coding is not the same once new keys are programmed to the immobilizer. Yes, certain aspects of the process are the same but there is a whole sub menu in the Honda HDS tablet that allows the technician to put in new criteria that communicates with the new components only. There are two types of reprogramming that the dealership can do...one is "ALL KEYS LOST". The other is "ADD ONE KEY". In the first process, the name says it all, all the keys for the vehicle are lost and there needs to be new programming criteria entered into the immobilizer with new keys. The second procedure is again, self-explanatory...you are adding another key to the existing immobilizer criteria. In order to perform the second procedure (ADD ONE KEY), all the current keys must be at the dealer. This is the only way the process works. I agree that the test for this would be for Dpak to try his spare fob to try and access entry into the vehicle.

-greg