I lost my ignition keys what to do. What to do if you lost your car keys

Recently, not a rare occurrence on the forums is a problem and a question at the same time: “I lost my chip key, what should I do?”.

The problem has serious consequences, because a chip key is not a Zhiguli key, which, together with the lock, can be changed for 500 rubles and go further.

Without a smart key, you will not only not be able to start the car, you will not even be able to open it, and the hope that you have a spare key does not always justify itself, due to the fact that spare keys are mainly technical and maximum what you can do is just open the car, nothing more. The chip keys themselves are different, some of them are contactless.

If you lost the chip key, then exits 2 and 3 are not given - this is to contact the official dealer or look for specialized offices that will deal with this problem.

Let's start with official dealers.

Your appeal to the dealer will be completely legal, to which they will naturally respond, because. they have all the data on all cars sold, including yours. If you have a technical spare key, then this is not much, but it will simplify the creation of a new original, and if it also has a barcode, then this will bring you as close as possible to the final one.

But keep in mind that if there is no barcode, then it is quite possible that the dealer will offer you to evacuate your vehicle to the service center, because the presence of one key is not enough, and it is very difficult to akin an immobilizer and a chip key in the absence of the car itself or a barcode.

But, most often it happens that a person does not have a barcode or a spare key, and then the dealer may refuse to receive a new key for you, and offer complete replacement castle, the cost of which varies from 20 to 30 thousand rubles, and this is not a little.

In such cases, if you feel sorry for the money, then you can try to contact specialized companies that, without replacing the lock and in the absence of keys, will be able to revive everything that you ask for in your car.

Due to the fact that specialized companies are not official representatives of anything and do not have any parties in contact with the state, specialists often work there, so to speak, “ narrow profile”, which can open anything in a few minutes, which will be in your case.

A representative of this office will be able to open your car in 10-15 minutes. and for the same time to start it. Then the car is driven to the station, where in a few hours you will be given a new chip key with a duplicate without removing or changing the lock. As a result, the final cost is 8-12 thousand rubles, which is much more profitable than changing the entire lock, but we don’t know how many duplicates were actually made, so after such repairs we strongly advise you to strengthen the protection of your car, at least in installation of a new good alarm system or additional car insurance.

Therefore, if you lost the chip key and read this article, the solution should come by itself! Keep an eye on things, because the consequences of their loss are sometimes very deplorable.

The quiet life of a motorist depends on many small "accessories" that tend to get lost. And it’s good if it’s a registration certificate or a license, which can be restored in a couple of hours, but, often, car owners lose the keys to their car. As a rule, when buying a car, a second set of keys is issued, but it happens that a person has lost two car keys at once.

Action plan

Losing important things always brings panic, so the first thing to do is to calm down.

To decide how to find lost keys from your car, you should adhere to the following points:

1. Try to find. If the keys were lost in the room, you should inspect it again, but already calmed down. Losing keys is a fixable problem, so don't worry. If there were people in the room at the time of the loss, they should be interviewed.
2. Enable "services". It happens that the keys are lost at the workplace or in the shopping center. In this case, the chance of success increases many times over. To do this, the car owner should go to the administration of the premises and inform speakerphone brand of car and where exactly he lost his car keys.
3. Help a friend. If the past day passed in the company of friends, it is worth enlisting their help. You need to ask the person with whom you spent time to make a complete plan of action for the day of the loss. You may not remember some details due to panic or other circumstances, and your friend is away from the loss, so he can assess the situation soberly.
4. To advertise. In almost every city there are associations or groups of motorists in social networks. There you should place a detailed announcement about the loss, indicate the place and time of the loss, the make of the car and the telephone number for communication.

Such actions will help only in half of the cases. Loss can be discovered on the same day if the car owner has recently lost his car keys. What to do if you need a car soon? First you need to transport it.

Transportation

If the keys are lost outside the home, then transportation of the car will be required. In big cities, there are services that offer opening the car and creating a duplicate key. Such services will cost more than a regular replacement. In addition, the integrity of such services remains questionable.

To transport the car to the desired parking lot or garage, you should use the services of a tow truck. To carry out such a procedure, you will need documents for a car proving your right to own it.

Lost car key without chip

Replacing the key on a car up to 90 years of release is much easier. Cars of those years were not equipped with so-called " chips", Therefore, to open a car, it is enough to replace the larva door lock and the castle itself. These components can be purchased from official representative or at the car dealership. Many garages offer lock replacement services.

In most cases, the procedure for replacing the lock does not take more than 2-3 hours. Full set larvae, lock and keys costs from 4 thousand, depending on the brand and class of car. You will have to pay extra for installation.

Owners Japanese cars not always able to use this service. These machines have a special lock configuration, so it can only be replaced by an authorized supplier.

Chip keys

The principle of operation of a key with a chip is quite simple. It is connected to the receiver of the head unit of the machine. If a signal with a special encoding was not received by the system, then a few minutes after the start of movement, the immobilizer will turn off the car's control systems.

The chipping of recovered keys is difficult process adaptation of new keys for car electronics. It is also necessary to erase from the system memory that the key data has been lost. After that, the immobilizer will be recoded. After completion of the work, the immobilizer errors are reset. For this it is necessary special equipment. If you have lost the chip keys from the car, what to do in this case can be prompted by the service staff.

The keys are restored on the spot, in rare cases the car is delivered to the service. If there is a card with an immobilizer control code, making a chip will be much cheaper. If you lost your car keys with a chip, you should take it to service center.

How to avoid losing keys

In order not to go through all the key recovery procedures, it is worth protecting them from loss, for this it is worth remembering the following tricks:

1. The most proven way is to make another duplicate and leave it in safe place. Perhaps a friend of the car owner, who in any emergency can help you out.
2. Don't drive if you're going to drink. Even if after drinking alcohol you are not going to drive, you should not take the car with you. The place of fun is best reached by public transport or a taxi, this will save not only you, but also the keys and the car.
3. Recently, key fobs with a state number of a car have been very popular. On reverse side you can include your phone number and a request for a refund for a fee.

Such measures do not require special discipline, but will not let you lose the keys again in the future.

How to open a car

If you lost your car keys with an alarm, there are many ways to open it.

The easiest is to use a wire that is bent 45 °:

• The wire should easily pass through the junction of the seal with the glass, but not bend from the slightest pressure.
• Then you should stick the hook between the window and the seal, and then feel for the rod on which the button is located.
• As soon as the traction is felt, you need to pull the wire towards you.

To figure out how to open the car if you lost your keys, you should take a closer look at the more “loud” ways - using a drill. The tool needs to drill a secret. However, this method requires further replacement of each of the larvae. A blank key may also come in handy. To open the door, you just need to force it into the lock and scroll sharply. The main thing is to put in a lot of effort.

Understanding how to start a car if you have lost the keys helps to know the electrical circuit of the car. If you cannot open the door when the locks are frozen, there are several ways to get into your car.

You can use the hood latch cable. It runs from the hood lock to the left fender, and then into the interior of the car. The easiest way to get it is with a wire near the left headlight, and then pull it sharply towards you.

Oddly enough, but the loss of car keys is the place to be for many car owners. In this situation, it makes no sense to puzzle over where they could have been lost and for what reason. It is best if such an incident happened to you, immediately proceed to actions aimed at eliminating this trouble.

You are in over advantageous position if the loss is discovered at the moment when the car is located in a garage or on a guarded car park. In this case, you can immediately start restoring the keys without thinking about the safety of your car. Less fortunate is the one who lost the keys, being at this time away from home, far from the place where the car was stored, for example, after going home after a picnic, you find that there are no ignition keys.

Your first steps

This situation will not be so problematic if a second set of keys is available, it is enough to contact someone on the phone and ask for it to be delivered to you. If the car is locked and located near the house, in this case you can go to get the keys yourself. Well, if your case is not similar to the two above, then you need to call a tow truck - an assistant in delivering the car to the desired location.

Please note that the employees of the company providing tow truck services who arrived on a call will require you to provide documents confirming that the car for which the order was received belongs to you. In addition, at present, in many cities, there are companies engaged in emergency opening cars and production of door lock duplicates. As a result, if "trouble" caught you in big city, then these firms, if necessary, will gladly provide you with their services.

Possible key recovery options

After making sure that your car is safe, you need to start solving the problem of restoring the ignition key. With an old car, this will not be very problematic, the best option is to change the ignition lock at the same time as the door lock. This is not only a fast, but also a cheap solution to the problem.

So, if we consider the option with an Opel Astra car, a kit with an ignition lock will cost its owner 4-4.5 thousand rubles. Almost all car manufacturers in modern world they produce cars that have the same ignition locks and door locks, which greatly simplifies the situation, since it is possible to make a key according to the door lock.

But everywhere there are nuances. Some cars made in Japan have features that are unique to them, and the key made in the above way will not be suitable for opening the lock and you will not be able to start the engine with it. The reason for this is the configuration features of the ignition switch.

Such a solution to the problem is suitable for Skoda, Volkswagen and Seat cars, as well as for some other brands.

Modern ignition keys and their features

Chip keys as a technology, car manufacturers began to introduce in the second half of the 90s. Such a key differs from its predecessor by the presence of a microcircuit (chip) that has its own code, and in some models even a code generator. Its essence lies in the fact that when the key is used, the system reads the signal supplied by the chip, and then transmits this signal to the car's on-board computer, which gives permission to start.

Chip keys are designed specifically to secure your property or at least make it harder to take possession of it. There are two types - this is an open type chip key, its chip is outside and closed, the chip is respectively inside the key. The second kind gives more reliable protection, since outwardly it does not differ from a simple key.

External distinctive feature such keys is a large head with buttons, but not in all brands. In order to find out specifically whether the key is equipped with a chip, wrap it with aluminum foil and try to start it. If there is a chip in the key, the car will not start.

If you have lost at least one key from the set of chip keys that were issued by the manufacturer when buying a car, then do not waste time, immediately order a duplicate from official dealer. No need to delay making a duplicate, waiting for the loss of the rest of the keys.

Until recently, chip keys were restored only through the manufacturer or through its official dealer. This operation was carried out for several months and cost more than 10,000 rubles. But that's all in the past. More recently, organizations providing this kind of service have begun to appear. Therefore, now such a procedure will not take much time, and will be much cheaper.

Chip action

As mentioned earlier, the principle of operation electronic key simple and at the same time effective. The key chip, sending a coded signal, connects to the car's control device, more precisely, to its receiver. If the signal was not recognized and accepted by the system, then the car's immobilizer, after starting to move, turns off the main components of the car, the car stalls.

The process of chipping duplicate keys is the setting of new keys for the electronics of the car. Data about previous keys from the system is erased. Then the immobilizer is recoded, which eliminates the possibility of using old keys. At the final stage of work, the specialist with the available equipment resets the immobilizer errors. In most cases, a complex of these operations can be performed on the spot, sometimes the car has to be delivered to a service center.

The cost of the chipping procedure depends on the characteristics of each car. If upon purchase you were given a card with an access code to the immobilizer - manufacturing chip key will cost less. Key equipped with a radio unit, remote control it will cost a lot more.

Each vehicle owner must have two copies of the keys to it. This is one of the basic rules that will help you avoid unpleasant situations and the common question of what to do if you lose your car keys.

But our life is full of surprises, which are not always positive. For example, the keys can be lost in another city or even country, and the second copy is at home, where there is no opportunity or time to return. In this situation, you should follow some rules.

The main thing is not to panic in any case. You need to remember the places where the car keys could fall out, and carefully examine the entire route that you followed. If the search results are negative, you can contact the information service or the company administration for help, shopping center, hotels. They have the ability to make an announcement over the speakerphone, and if anyone finds the keys, he will surely return them to the owner.

You should write a notice about the loss of the keys and hang them in places where they are supposed to have disappeared. This may not give results, or the search will drag on for for a long time but still worth a try. If the keys are returned, be sure to thank this person.

Recovery of keys not equipped with a microchip

There are several options for what to do if such keys are lost. It all depends on how the vehicle was purchased and sold:

1. car showroom;
2. secondary market.

Car bought from dealership

If the car was purchased from an authorized dealer, you need to call and report the problem. IN dealer center they will pick up a duplicate key, but for this you need to specify the following data about the vehicle:

• model;
• year of purchase;
• government number;
• VIN number of the car.

It is best if the VIN code was written out in advance on some piece of paper. Otherwise, the situation will become more complicated, since most often it is indicated on the plate in engine compartment or in the cabin on the front doors.

You will have to use the services of a tow truck and deliver the car to the dealership. But you must have documents with you confirming that the customer of the services is really the owner of the vehicle. In the center, representatives will pick up a duplicate key and open the locks. But it will not be cheap, and all expenses, of course, will have to be paid by the owner of the car.

What to do if you lose the keys to a car purchased "from hand"

If the vehicle was purchased for secondary market, and there is no spare key, you will have to seek help from an organization that deals with emergency opening of cars and the subsequent production of duplicate keys for the lock cylinder. Specialists of such companies open locks of any complexity without much difficulty, and this process does not take much time.

To the benefits this method relate:

• simplicity, since such keys are used both to open doors and to lock the ignition;
• speed;
• more low cost compared to restoring keys through a dealer.

Difficulties arise with many Japanese stamps cars, the design of the lock cylinder of which does not allow the production of a duplicate key. It will be necessary to purchase a kit at any disassembly, consisting of an ignition switch, keys and a door lock cylinder, and install it.

Chip key recovery

The loss of a key with an embedded microchip, which is associated with the immobilizer in the car, is a more serious problem than the previous ones. Making a duplicate without a chip will not help in this case. It will only be possible to open the door, but it will not work to start the car. But there are no hopeless situations.

What is a chip key?

The electronic key is equipped with a special chip with a specific code. When the ignition is turned on, a signal is read from it, and data is transmitted on-board computer. Only then can the engine be started. If the radio signal is not received or sent, the immobilizer blocks the operation of the main systems of the car, and it simply does not start or stalls.

Chip key heads are more massive, some are equipped with buttons. The absence of buttons does not mean that the key does not have a chip. Checking for its presence is quite simple - you should wrap the head with foil (in several layers) and try to start the engine. If it does not start, the key is equipped with a chip.

It is recommended to restore a lost chip key through an authorized dealer. When buying a vehicle, the owner is issued a special card with radio and immobilizer codes. If not, then you need to call a tow truck and transport the car to a car dealership. Restoring data on the immobilizer code is a costly and long business (from several weeks to a month), so it is better not to lose the card with the codes.

Is it possible to restore a chip key without the participation of an authorized dealer?

A few years ago, chipping was carried out only by a dealer center. To date, the restoration of a lost key with a microchip is also performed by companies that have special programs, with the help of which codes are selected for almost any immobilizer.

The recovery procedure consists of the following operations:

1. adaptation of new keys to the electronics of the machine;
2. deleting data about the previous key from the system;
3. immobilizer recoding;
4. resetting immobilizer errors.

In many cases, chipping can even be carried out on the spot, but sometimes it is required to deliver the vehicle to a service center. The cost of work depends on many factors, but compared to restoration at a dealership, it is cheaper and much faster.

Useful video about chip key recovery:

There is only one conclusion - it is better not to lose the car keys at all, this will lead to additional financial costs and is fraught with a loss of time for recovery. To protect yourself from such troubles, you should take care of making a duplicate.