Your car is your second-most important investment after your home. To protect your car from robbers, most cars these days come with electronic car keys. Though these key fobs are great at protecting your car, it can also mean disaster if you are locked out of your car or if these do not work the way they should.

This is when you might need to master the art of car keys programming. Don’t worry, it isn’t that difficult. All you need is a little help from your car manual and follow some simple procedures. Once done successfully, you will be able to get done what you aimed to do.

Are the keys low on power?

If your electronic car keys have suddenly stopped working, it may need a change of batteries. You can change the batteries to see if it works before shelling out hundreds of dollars for a brand new one.

You can start by opening the car key fob. There will be a hidden key in one end, pull it out and use its metal part to open the key from its plastic seam. Do this gently to avoid breaking the plastic.

Once open, there will be a small circuit board-looking part. You need to take it out and flip it over, where you will find the battery. These are simply flat and round batteries that are cheap and available at most retail outlets. You can get one and reassemble the electronic key.

However, this may not work at all times. If your car is of a higher technological make, you will need to contact your dealership or a designated expert.

How to program a replacement key after the original is lost

As mentioned before, this isn’t rocket science. Read on to know how you can program an electronic car key yourself.

Ignition Car key programming

  • Sit in your driver’s seat with your key. Ensure all the doors are closed.
  • Insert your key in the ignition and turn it to the second ‘Acc’ (Accessories) position. Ensure the engine is not running.
  • Wait for another 10 minutes and 30 seconds then turn the ignition to the off position.
  • Wait again for a few moments and repeat step 3.
  • In fact, you will have to do steps 3 and 4 a total of 3 times. Once done, your key should be programmed and ready to use. After this, check all the lock and unlock buttons and see if they work well. If not, you may need to repeat steps 3 through 5.

Push-button car key programming

  • Sit in your driver’s seat with your key. Ensure all the doors are closed.
  • Press the start button and release it 15 times with quick intervals of 1-2 seconds. You need to be quick with the back-to-back press and release functions. Ensure you do not press the breaks or any other button.
  • After you have counted and completed the 15 presses, you have to push and release the lock button on your electronic car key. This will lock the doors immediately and the key can then be used. If this doesn’t solve the problem, you will have to repeat steps 1 to 3 again. This time, ensure you have the right intervals between each press of the start button.

Conclusion

With the help of this article, we are sure you would be able to DIY when it comes to programming a duplicate key or replacing an electronic key’s batteries. If things seem way difficult, do contact us at 602-301-5243 or visit us at Desert Locksmith. We’re always there to help you.