New car keys can get expensive...unless you buy from us!

Key Technology Has Advanced and So Have Replacement Costs Published: 03/29/2011 - by Ronald Montoya, Consumer Advice Editor

Our car keys have an uncanny ability to get lost inside coat pockets or underneath couch cushions — or to disappear altogether. Prior to the 1990s, this wasn't a big deal. You could get a spare key at any hardware store or locksmith shop, not to mention at the car dealership, of course. But because it was easy to copy a key, it was also easy for a thief to steal your car. These days, advances in key technology have made vehicles more difficult to steal, but the price has been costlier key replacements. Here's a rundown of what you'll face in the way of cost if you have to replace your key, along with some alternatives that could lower the bill. The prices quoted here are for Santa Monica, California, and West Los Angeles, an area where an hour of labor at an auto dealership can cost more than $100. Labor costs in your region may vary. Basic Keys and Fob A basic car key, which was common up until the mid-to late-1990s, has no security feature other than its unique cut. The shank, which is the long metal part of the key, has cuts and grooves like a house key. It's easy to copy these keys. A locksmith doesn't need any extra equipment: He can use the same machine he uses to cut other keys. A basic key will cost about $3 at a locksmith. The only benefit of having the job done at the dealership would be to get the automaker's branding on the head of the key. A Honda dealership near the Edmunds office charges about $12 for a basic key. On most modern cars, an electronic key fob (also known as a remote or transmitter) is an integral part of the key set. At the dealership, the cost of replacing an electronic fob can range from $50-$90, depending on the automaker or complexity of the design. All fobs need to be programmed. Some dealerships will do it for free, while others will charge a half hour to an hour of labor. There is a way around this fee, however. Most fobs can be programmed with a specific combination of button presses on the remote and key turns in the ignition. Some owner's manuals will show you how to do it, and you can also find this information online. Finally, there are aftermarket fobs that you can purchase online or from a locksmith. Like most aftermarket products, the quality will vary, but they are a less expensive alternative if you've lost your fob. Transponder Keys After the mid- to late-1990s, manufacturers began placing a transponder chip in the plastic head of the key. The chip emits a signal to a receiver in the ignition. If this "immobilizer" detects the wrong signal — meaning that the wrong key is in the ignition — the vehicle will not start. A transponder key's shank is either a basic key or a laser-cut key (more on laser-cut keys later). The major difference between a basic key and a transponder key is that the chip in the transponder key must be programmed before it can start the vehicle. All dealerships have the machines necessary to program the key. Some might program it for free, but others will charge up to an hour of labor. Most auto locksmiths should also have these machines. In some vehicles, the transponder key and the fob are an all-in-one unit. This adds to the price of the key and makes it more difficult to get a spare anywhere but at the dealership. We checked the price of a basic transponder key on a late-model Ford F-150. The dealership quoted $160 for the key and an additional $75 for the fob. If you go to a locksmith, expect to pay roughly $20-$30 less. A potential low-cost alternative for access to your car is to order a basic key without the transmitter. This key will do everything but start the engine and can come in handy if you ever leave your keys inside the vehicle. If you're the type who frequently loses keys, you might be able to save money on the programming by creating a third key to have as a spare. If you already have two keys, a number of vehicle brands will allow you to program a third key on your own. You can have a locksmith cut this "emergency" key and then you follow the procedure for programming, which can frequently be found in your owner's manual. If the manual doesn't show you how, try searching online for the procedure. Try "How to program a (insert your year, make, model) key" as your search terms. Our searches found a method that is said to work on many domestic vehicles. Insert one of your two working keys and turn the ignition to the "on" position for at least three seconds (the car does not need to be started), then repeat the process with the second key. Now insert the new third key and again turn it to the "on" position for another few seconds. This should program the extra key. Before you try this method and spend money on a key, however, we suggest you check with the dealership or your local automotive locksmith to see if the process is one that will reliably work with your car. Laser-Cut Keys You can tell a laser-cut key apart from a basic key because the shank is slightly thicker and has fewer carved-out grooves. Laser-cut keys are often referred to as sidewinder keys, due to the distinctive winding cut on the shank. The machines needed to cut these keys are significantly more expensive than a standard key-cutting machine and are not as likely to be found at every locksmith or hardware store. Laser-cut keys also have built-in transponder chips and they need to be programmed at the dealership or by a locksmith, preferably one who is a member of the Associated Locksmiths of America (ALOA). You can search for a certified locksmith near you by visiting the AOLA Web site. All-in-one laser-cut keys are becoming more popular, but as we mentioned, these keys are more expensive and typically need to be replaced at the dealership. Including labor, these can range from $150-$250, which is the price of a laser-cut key for a Honda Insight, for example. Switchblade Key Switchblade keys have shanks that fold into the fob when they're not in use and pop out with the press of a button. They can have a basic cut or a laser cut. One small advantage of the switchblade key is that its components can be purchased separately. If for some reason your key is damaged and no longer works, you can buy the shank separately for roughly $60-$80. But the more likely scenario is that you've lost your key, in which case you'll need both it and the fob into which it folds. This can cost between $200 and $300, once you factor in programming of both components. Smart Keys Smart keys aren't keys in the traditional sense. They are fobs that are either inserted in the dash or, in the more advanced systems, they stay in your pocket or purse. The driver turns the car on and off with the press of a button. A smart key's main form of security is its ability to use rolling security codes. The system randomizes the correct code and prevents thieves from hacking it through the use of a device called a code grabber. The vehicle's computer recognizes the code emitted by the smart key and verifies it before starting the engine. Mercedes-Benz was one of the first automakers to utilize this technology, and even coined the term "SmartKey." Every vehicle in its lineup now uses the SmartKey. And only dealers can replace them. "The German brands use proprietary technology," says Mike Howell, owner of Santa Monica Lock & Safe Co. "We're not able to copy those." Smart keys aren't just limited to German automakers. Nearly every car brand has a smart key bundled in its high-tech packages. Nissan, for example, makes it available on a number of models ranging from the Altima to the 370Z. With a smart key, there's no avoiding the dealership for a replacement. And while it's handy to carry smart keys in your purse or pocket, these are the very places you will feel the pain when you lose them. The cost of replacing and reprogramming a smart key can range from $220 on a Nissan Altima up to $400 on an Acura RL. Better Safe Than Sorry There's no denying that modern keys are expensive. And so the best defense against losing them is a good offense. It is better to get a spare key now, on your terms, than to stress out and spend the money in what might be an emergency. You can take advantage of the cost-cutting methods here and avoid the labor charges by programming the key yourself. Finally, if you are someone who is tempting fate by only having one set of keys, consider this: If you lose all the keys to your car, you will need to get it towed to a dealership and it can potentially cost you close to $1,000 to replace the locks on your car.

Another great read don't you think? Again if you need keys? We have them on Lock

Three-Wheeled Elio Gets Closer To Going On Sale

Your next commuter car could have two seats, three wheels and get 84 miles to the gallon. Elio Motors wants to revolutionize U.S. roads with its tiny car, which is the same length as a Honda Fit but half the weight. With a starting price of $6,800, it's also less than half the cost. Phoenix-based Elio plans to start making the cars next fall at a former General Motors plant in Shreveport, Louisiana. Already, more than 27,000 people have reserved one. Elio hopes to make 250,000 cars a year by 2016. That's close to the number Mazda sells in the U.S. Because it has three wheels - two in front and one in the rear - the Elio is actually classified as a motorcycle by the U.S. government. But Elio Motors founder Paul Elio says the vehicle has all the safety features of a car, like anti-lock brakes, front and side air bags and a steel cage that surrounds the occupants. Drivers won't be required to wear helmets or have motorcycle licenses. The Elio's two seats sit front and back instead of side by side, so the driver is positioned in the center with the passenger directly behind. That arrangement, plus the low seating position - the Elio is just 54 inches tall - and the lack of power steering take a little getting used to. But after a couple of spins around the block in this Detroit suburb, it felt like any other small car. That's partly because its two front wheels stick out by a foot on both sides, aiding balance and preventing the vehicle from tipping. The Elio has a three-cylinder, 0.9-liter engine and a top speed of more than 100 miles per hour. It gets an estimated 84 mpg on the highway and 49 mpg in city driving. Elio keeps the costs down in several ways. The car only has one door, on the left side, which shaves a few hundred dollars off the manufacturing costs. Having three wheels also makes it cheaper. It will be offered in just two configurations - with a manual or automatic transmission - and it has standard air conditioning, power windows and door locks and an AM/FM radio. More features, such as navigation or blind-spot detection, can be ordered through Elio's long list of suppliers. Germany's Daimler also promised to revolutionize American commutes with the Smart car, but that hasn't panned out, says Karl Brauer, a senior analyst with Kelley Blue Book. Smart sold just 9,264 cars in the U.S. last year. The Smart has a starting price of $13,270 for a gas-powered car and gets 38 mpg on the highway - not enough savings or fuel economy to justify sacrificing comfort in the tiny car. But, Brauer said, the equation might work in the Elio. "If it really gets 84 mpg and doesn't drive terribly, it would justify the compromises you're making in size and comfort," he said. Elio will also save money by selling the cars directly through its own stores and not through franchised dealers, similar to electric car maker Tesla Motors. Elio plans stores in 60 major metropolitan areas. They'll be serviced by car repair chain Pep Boys. Paul Elio, a one-time stockbroker and New York City cab driver, dreamed as a kid that he would one day own a car company called Elio Motors. "As I matured I decided that was as likely as playing in the NFL," Elio told The Associated Press. But he did earn an engineering degree at General Motors Institute - now Kettering University - and started his own company engineering products like children's car seats. In 2008, tired of high gas prices and the country's dependence on foreign oil, he started working on a fuel-efficient car. Equally important to him was creating U.S. manufacturing jobs and making the car inexpensive enough to appeal to buyers who might otherwise be stuck in old, unreliable clunkers. "Whatever matters to you, this can move the needle on it," he said. The recession killed his engineering company, but it also provided the opportunity to buy the Shreveport plant when GM filed for bankruptcy protection. Elio Motors plans to employ 1,500 people at the plant. The company has also applied for a $185 million advanced vehicle development loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. Paul Elio said so far, reservation holders are older, more affluent buyers who will use the Elio as a second or third car for commuting. "It's an 'and' purchase for a lot of folks," he said. "So keep your SUV or your minivan or your large sedan, and when you're driving back and forth to work all by yourself, take the Elio. At this price point and this mileage, that works financially for folks." Eventually, though, he believes the car will appeal to high school and college students as well as used-car drivers who want something newer and more reliable. He also hopes to eventually export it to other countries. Gallery: Best Customer Cash Deals Of The Month By: Associated Press

The future of car keys.

You might wonder, given the hands-free, "smart key" feature appearing in more vehicles at auto shows and at dealerships.

Known by several names such as Keyless Go and Smart Key, the new technology is already offered on the Cadillac STS andXLR, Mercedes-Benz S-Class,E-Class and SL-Class, Lexus LS 430, Toyota Prius and Avalonand Infiniti M, among others. It lets drivers unlock cars by just walking up to them and touching a door handle. Drivers don't need to push a button on their vehicle's key fob or even take the fob out of their purse or pocket.

Meantime, these drivers can start their engines simply by touching a button on the dashboard. Their new, sophisticated fob device automatically communicates with the car. All that's required is the fob must be somewhere inside the car.

Evolution of Key Fobs
Many automaker officials describe this keyless entry and startup system as a convenience for drivers. It can incorporate many features, including remote starting.

"I think we looked at it as a way to make the process of getting into a car easier," said Patrik Borenius, department manager for advanced product planning at Mercedes-Benz USA.

Mercedes, which is a pioneer in what it calls Keyless Go technology, offers the system on at least five 2005 vehicles, which is more than any other carmaker.

Option price is more than $1,000 on a Mercedes S430, but it's just over $900 on Toyota's Prius. In the Infiniti M cars, it's standard.

Other carmaker officials say the keyless systems also can make consumers feel they have neat new technology in their new vehicles.

"Everyone has remotes, which have to be aimed at the car [to open it]," Borenius said. "We felt that this was the next step. We said, 'Imagine that there are no locks.' So we created this technology . . . People are very positive about it."

Someone rushing to get inside a Mercedes E-Class wagon in a heavy rainstorm won't need to fish out a fob from his pocket and press a fob button to unlock the car. And a parent carrying a youngster won't need to put the toddler down in a parking lot to dig around at the bottom of a purse or in a pocket for the fob so the adult and child can get inside an S-Class.

Indeed, Larry Holman, engineering group manager for electrical vehicle access, at Cadillac's General Motors Corp., said smart key systems can "provide a 'wow factor' for the customer. It's something new and exciting."

An Engineering Feat
But this new convenience feature also adds a new level of complex engineering.

For example, seven antennas are in the new top-level Avalon Limited sedan, helping the standard Smart Key system operate, according to Paul Williamsen, curriculum development manager at the University of Toyota.

Though these antennas use a radio frequency to operate, they have nothing to do with the car's radio, he noted. The seven antennas are in the Avalon only to communicate with the Smart Key fob that the driver can carry in a pocket or purse.

Four of the antennas are found in the doors—one in each door so a driver can walk up to any of them and open just that door. There's another antenna in the trunk lid to detect if the driver walks up to the trunk and wants to open it. There's a sixth antenna inside the car that senses it's okay to start the engine when the Smart Key is in the vehicle, and there's a seventh antenna that's a safeguard. It's designed to detect if the Smart Key might happen to be mistakenly placed or left inside the trunk. If this occurs, the trunk lid pops open on its own so the driver can retrieve the "lost" Smart Key fob.

Toyota isn't the only automaker going to such lengths to get away from traditional keys.

In engineering the Keyless Access system found on the Cadillac STS and XLR, engineers made sure the cars routinely check the battery strength of the new fobs because they are so critical, said GM's Holman. So, when a battery gets low in an STS fob, the driver is alerted via a message on the dashboard, he said. As a further backup, Cadillac still provides what it calls "mechanical key access" to the vehicle.

But Toyota's Williamsen said it's up to a driver of the Avalon to notice if a fob battery is weakening, which likely will show up as a reduction in the working range of the fob. "As a backup, if yes, the battery gets weak and doesn't work from two feet away, in a pinch, you can hold the fob right next to the door handle and it will open the door," he said. This is because the little, shiny silver-colored Toyota logo on the fob incorporates part of an antenna, he said.

Some Interesting Situations
But there still could be snafus.

Williamsen said an early Toyota smart key application a few years ago showed "occasional interference" when cars were at or near some Exxon and Mobil gasoline stations. It turned out the stations had cardless pay systems which "flooded" their locations with the same radio wave spectrum that the autos were using.

"You only lost a small functionality" but it was enough to require changes, he said.

Meantime, GM engineers realized there are rare spots—at some military sites, near broadcast towers and by airports—where a car could be "in a severe RF [radio frequency] environment" that could affect the Keyless Access system, according to Tom Dutter, lead engineer for Keyless Access. So, they installed a "high-power" bypass inside the car to ensure a driver isn't stranded, he said.

Many tech-wary consumers might wonder if it's all worth it.

But Dan Bonawitz, vice president for corporate planning and logistics at American Honda Motor Co. Inc., said electronic features are growing, in part because the cost of such technology is lower than ever before. Honda's Acura luxury line introduced its first car with a standard Keyless Access system for the 2005 model year.

It's the Acura RL sedan and is a bit different from others because there's no start button on the dashboard. The RL has something that looks like a key stub that has to be turned, just as a driver would turn an ignition key. But the RL's stub doesn't have a slot for a key to be inserted.

Auto industry officials also cite competition for the proliferation of new technology in cars.

"We saw [hands-free entry systems] being implemented in Europe and we anticipated it coming to the U.S. market," Dutter said, explaining how the XLR debuted as a 2004 model with Keyless Access.

With the exception of the Prius, which is a gasoline-electric sedan with a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price around $21,000, most vehicles offered with a smart key feature are high-priced and luxury models. And it appears the higher the price, the more likely a buyer is to get it.

For example, Borenius said up to 80 percent of the V12-powered Mercedes S600 buyers have been adding the optional Keyless Go system. But when other, lower-priced models of S-Class are added in, the percentage drops to about 25 percent.

The S600 starts around $125,000, while the starting price for a base S-Class is around $75,000.

Likely to Go Beyond Luxury Models
Officials expect the technology to spread to lower-priced cars.

"I personally think it's a natural evolution of keyless entry and we'll see more market penetration," Dutter said. "We'll see the same kind of proliferation that we saw in the early '90s when keyless entry [began to spread to lots of cars]."

Bonawitz added that drivers who have the feature appear to want it on their next car, too.

Some Important Tips
But there is a learning curve. For example, this writer found herself exiting the RL and Infiniti's M cars after shifting into Park, only to discover the engine was still running. With no key to turn and remove from the ignition and put in my hand, I had to retrain myself to stop stepping out of the car until I pressed the engine button on the dashboard.

Valet parking is another situation that can require retraining, since a valet driver will have no way to start the vehicle once it's parked unless he or she has a fob, too. Yet many car owners are likely to exit their cars and leave with their fobs in their pocket or purse. The engines remain on and the valets can drive the cars away for parking. But once the vehicles are turned off, the valets will have no way of restarting them without the fobs.

"What we have seen is when people see it, at first, there's a little hurdle," Holman said. "It may take a couple weeks or a month [to adjust]."

Smart key systems don't require regular maintenance, and the fob batteries, which are generally akin to those used for watches, should last up to three years, officials said.

Still, replacing a Keyless Go fob will cost more than an old-fashioned key would because the fob includes technology, Borenius said. Officials at Mercedes and Toyota said the price for replacement fobs could be $200-plus.

In addition, when one of these fobs is lost, a car owner can't just call up the dealer and get a new one right away. For example, at Mercedes, the fobs are customized to each car, so an owner must go to a dealer, show proof of ownership of the car, and then order a new fob, which is produced at an off-site, secure facility and then shipped to the dealer. This could take a couple days, though the process can be expedited with express delivery service, according to Michelle Murad, a Mercedes-Benz product public relations specialist.

Ann Job is a freelance auto writer.