Steve’s Lock Out is now carrying protective covers for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury remotes.
Steve's Lock Out is now carrying protective and decorative skins for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury remotes
These remote covers slip easily on to your Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury remote. Not only do they protect your remote they also come in your favorite color to match your personality or your car.
Look for remote covers for other types of vehicles in the near future.
I sometimes feel like a nay sayer with many of the articles I write, however, I feel like I need to inform the general public of situations where they could be taken advantage of.
My topic for this article is remotes and “chip” keys.
First I want to clear up a few things on what a chip key is. They can and are called many different things by vehicle owners, manufacturers and dealers including some four letter words when priced by the consumer who just wants an extra key and didn’t even know their key contained a chip. Some terms you may have heard are transponder, chip, immobilizer, smart key, computer key, security key, anti-theft, PATS, Sentry key and there are many others. Irregardless of what they are called they are a key with a transponder in them. Below is a key we stock that you can see right through the head of the key. It happens to be a Ford key. And to the right of that a close up of a transponder. Many people are unaware that their is a transponder in their key because it is house in plastic and not visible.
What is a transponder? The word Transponder itself is a combination of two words; transmitter and responder. Occasionally abbreviated TPDR, TR, XPNDR or XPDR. When you put your key into your ignition and turn the key. An antenna either on, around or near your ignition transmits a signal to your key. They key then needs to “respond” back with the appropriate signal to let the car know its ok to start.
What is the purpose of a transponder? Simply put, to make your vehicle harder to steal. Forcing the ignition will not allow the car to run like it would on many non transponder vehicles. There are other systems that deture this as well, but I’ll save that for another article.
Clear Ford Key Showing TransponderA Close Up of a Transponder
VATS Key
Feel free to contact us with any additional questions you might have.
Steve’s Lock Out sells and programs chip keys and remotes in the Parsons, Kansas area. Feel free to drop by for an estimate at 1806 Main.
This is Steve signing off.
Sometimes it pays to listen to your Locksmith and compare the pros and cons and prices before making a decision. Today I’m referring to Auto Locks. Ignitions, especially, when they fail. There are some vehicles that failed ignitions are quite common. We try to keep the most ignitions in stock, but sometimes they aren’t available or you are one of several customers that has called us and they haven’t been restocked yet. So that means ignitions are sometimes out of stock or are not a regular stock item, however, we can usually have them overnighted if your in a pinch.
The price we quote you includes:
We suggest doing it this way. Why? For many reasons. Here are a few.
If you decide to shop around, make sure to ask the individual what all is covered in the fees. Does your vehicle need towed to their location? Will the replaced ignition be new and set to your original key? What, if any, additional labor charges are involved.
I hope this article will help you out in making a decision if you personally ever have to deal with this problem.
It had needed to be done for quite some time so I finally did it. Knowing how easily I could get into my own van without a key always has made me a little uneasy so I did something about it. I’m not sure if it is really this easy for most people, however, working from a locksmiths point of view I cannot ignore it.
I made my decision to use Master Padlock’s 6271 Hidden Shackle padlock. These used with Master’s 770 heavy duty hidden shackle hasp is really a force to be reconned with.
I was a little leary. It required me to drill holes in my service van which is something I’m not real hip on. I got out my drill and took my time. It really took longer than I thought it would. One big obsticle was that the edge of the door was in the exact spot where I needed to tighten down the nut on the backside of the door skin. With careful use of a dremel tool this was alleviated.
Inside of the van door notched for clearence of the bolts
After drilling and cutting I used some touch up paint to make the job look better and to hopefully stop the beginning of any rust that might occur. I also used some clear silcone applied to the back of the hasp to keep any rain or other liquid from getting under the hasp and running inside the door. I also used hardened bolts to make the combination of hasp and lock that much stronger.
Too many keys? Ya, too many keys….hanging out of your cars ignition.
We’ve touched on reasons for auto ignition failures before and heres another bit of information to make your car that much more worry free.
Heavy or or overstuffed key rings are probably the largest contributor to auto ignition failure. Imagine if you would taking 2 pieces of metal and rubbing them together for a couple of minutes. OK not much happens here. Now take those same pieces of metal and rub them together a couple of hours a day and do that every day for a couple of months. Notice anything now. Not that you are really going to do this, but imagine what would happen to them if you did. You would most likely see substantial wear on them. Much the same thing happens in your car’s ignition and key when you have a heavy key ring. Fixing the key isn’t too bad. Most locksmiths can cut you a key back to factory specifications and have you on your way in a reasonably short amount of time and at not too much expense. If you have a “chip” key the cost can go up substantially. However, when an ignition fails it can be a whole new ball game. Ignitions, even ones that don’t use chip keys can be quite expensive. Most brands of autos use the same ignition for cars with and without chip keys. The difference is the antenna near the ignition that picks up the signal from the key.
Locksmiths are not the only ones who fix ignitions. Some mechanics do as well. The difference is most mechanics will put in a randomly keyed ignition and you end up with 2 keys to what should be a one key car. A locksmith, well I can’t say all, but most will key the new ignition back to the original key so you still have a one key car.
I will admit that there are several autos out there that have ignitions in them that are prone to premature failure no matter how careful you are. And failure doesn’t necessarily mean that the ignition will not turn on. I’ve replaced many GM ignitions that failed due to a sensor in the lock. In this case the key will turn on, however, you get a “no crank” situation and a blinking “theft” indicator on the instrument cluster.
Some ways to keep from causing to much wear on your ignition are.
Quick Release Key Ring
We do not advise simply leaving your key in the ignition in your car. This is just inviting auto theft and many insurance companies will not cover a claim when an auto is stolen in this situation.
A padlock set to your car key
I believe this has been a long time coming. A padlock that can be set to your vehicles key. Now granted if you have a 78 pinto that won’t be doable, however, with most modern American made autos it is. The number of vehicles this padlock can be keyed to is too extensive to list here. You can contact us if you are wondering about your auto.
There are actually 4 different padlocks. One for Ford, Lincoln and Mercurity. One for Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth. And 2 for Chevy, Pontiac and GMC. The reason for 2 for the GM padlock is that they are the only ones to introduce a new standard key blade in the last 5 years. Other vehicles that they also cover are Saturn, Hummer, International, Sterling and some Mazda, Isuzu and Mitsubishi.
I’ve ordered one of each to keep in stock at my shop. My overall opinion of this lock so far is good. It is a hefty lock although the shackle is long it is not to thick. You can use this just about anywhere else you would use a normal padlock.
Here are some pluses that Strattec boasts of the lock:
Strattec is boasting this lock to be very corrosion resistant and has a hardened shackle. It uses a shutter much like a auto lock to keep out contaminents.
The lock also uses a side-bar type lock which will make the lock very pick resistant and bumping is not even an option.
And they are standing behind this products. They are offering a limited lifetime warrenty on the product. According to the warrenty they will replace, repair or refund the orginal price of the lock for the original owner. These rights do not transfer to anyone that the original owners sells or gives the lock to.
Bravo Strattec.
However, there is one drawback I see to the padlock. Once it is set to a vehicle key that is it. It cannot be recoded to another key. Other than this one thing I think this lock is great.
And again these locks are available at Steve’s Lock Out.