Key Codes Leave Car Owners Locked Out

By Cindy Skrzycki
Tuesday, March 14, 2006

As more modern cars come equipped with anti-theft ignition keys, consumers are complaining about the increasing time and expense needed to replace missing keys.

After the master key to Jana Smith 's Toyota was lost under a foot of water as Hurricane Katrina flooded her home near New Orleans, a dealer told her she'd have to pay $2,200 for a new car computer, along with a new key, to get her 2002 Highlander back on the road. She declined.

"It was shocking," said Smith, who now lives in Dupont Circle. "It would have been shocking without Katrina."

She is not alone. AAA Mid-Atlantic got about 30,000 calls last year for help with locks; about a third of those were complete lockouts, said Mahlon Anderson , director of government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. In 1995, he said, the problem "pretty much" didn't exist because AAA cut keys on the spot. Nationwide, about 17 percent of calls to AAA are for vehicle lockouts, compared with about 1.4 percent in 1980.

"It's not only expensive, but people break down on nights and weekends and have to be towed," Anderson said. "We used to be able to get you into any car. We don't make that promise anymore."

Since the 1990s, carmakers have been incorporating increasingly sophisticated electronics into keys. Many of them have chips embedded in the keys that send out a code that must be read electronically before the car will start.

Auto manufacturers' sympathy is limited. New car owners are warned to keep a spare "master" key in a safe place in case they have a key catastrophe. They think the keys are adept at foiling car thieves, who stole 1.2 million vehicles in 2004 at a cost of $8.2 billion.

"It's an inconvenience," said Charles Territo , spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers . "But it pales in comparison to getting your car stolen." He added that for the majority of Americans, this will never be a problem if they purchase extra keys.

The Center for Auto Safety disagrees and petitioned the Federal Trade Commission yesterday, asking the agency to investigate auto companies for not releasing the key codes and for "charging exorbitant fees for nominal programming costs."

It wants the FTC to "move immediately" against companies that require new computers, and it suggests that an organization such as the National Insurance Crime Bureau , a nonprofit organization that combats theft and insurance fraud, run a database holding the key codes.

The Center for Auto Safety's executive director, Clarence Ditlow , also sent the FTC a survey of the costs of replacing keys in 50 makes and models in the Washington region. It found that the average local dealer price of a "smart" key was more than $150. The average cost of the rapidly disappearing mechanical key was $12.The highest was $335 for keys to a 2004 Lexus IS300.

William Harwood , who lives in Northwest Washington, forked over $445 to obtain a set of keys for his daughter, Laura, whose 2002 Audi A-4 keys were stolen. The car had to be towed to the dealer, and then it took a day to get the job done because the replacement had to be ordered from New Jersey.

Several AAA chapters are pushing legislation to create a secure database that would put key codes in the hands of owners or professionals such as locksmiths. In Maryland, a bill was introduced last month to require automakers and dealers to develop a system so car owners would have access to such information around the clock. A similar bill is pending in California.

Roger Stephens , who lives in Park City, Utah, had a particularly tough problem with his used 1998 Mercedes ML 320. When his key inexplicably stopped working, he tried to order another from the dealer. But he was told he needed a whole new computer. Mercedes ordered the parts at $2,508.08. Labor cost more than $1,000. His car was tied up at the dealership for eight weeks while the computer was shipped from Germany.

Donna Boland , spokesman for Mercedes -Benz USA , said that owners have an opportunity to have up to eight code replacements and that that is sufficient for most. "We don't have a lot of complaints on this matter," she said. Mercedes now has computers programmed to offer owners enough codes to cut new keys 24 times.

Toyota Motor Corp . gives new owners detailed information in its manuals, something Smith said she didn't know. And since last fall, Toyota has begun to replace car computers without charge when necessary.

William Kwong , spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc ., said there isn't much of a problem unless all the keys are lost. Otherwise, he said, a dealer can make one for about $80. "The best thing is not to lose both keys," he said.

Ditlow isn't sure the technology is all it's cracked up to be, especially since entrepreneurial thieves have figured out ways to take the cars by removing the computers and dropping in "new" ones or loading the cars on flatbed trucks and driving away. He thinks consumers are having their pockets picked as well as their keys replaced when they are dependent on dealers to cut and program keys.

Al Binder , editor of Ward's Automotive Yearbook, said only about 10 percent of vehicles had the advanced-key systems five years ago. Now, about half the new models made in the United States have them, and they are standard on almost all luxury cars.

The National Automotive Service Task Force -- a group of locksmiths, some automakers and independent repair shops -- has been studying how to make the codes available yet still maintain security. The group is leaning toward letting certain locksmiths have access to a database of the codes.

Timothy McMullen , legislative manager for the Associated Locksmiths of America , said 90 percent of locksmiths can't handle the problem for late-model, high-end cars because dealers and manufacturers don't give out code information. But Dwight Brooks, a locksmith in Capitol Heights, said he has a $4,500 machine that allows him to cut and program many of the keys, though it may require taking apart the ignition to fix the problem.

Law enforcement and insurance officials oppose the bill in Maryland.

"We are totally against putting it [key codes] in a centralized database and making it available to any hacker," said W. Ray Presley , executive director of the Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council , a state agency. "Your key code and my key code will be in there whether we want it to be or not."

In the meantime, owners can hope their encounters with getting a replacement key end as pleasantly as Smith's.

Once she moved to Washington, Smith took her Highlander to Jim Coleman Toyota in Bethesda, where service manager Wanda Cockrell took care of the $305 bill to cut and program two keys. And she threw in an oil and fluid change.