Not a bike post, but this might save you sometime. I had a poorly-functioning ignition lock cylinder on my Camry, or so I thought. The shop said, "let's try a new key from the dealer made from your VIN." It's not a 'chip' key. No RFID code in the key body. It cost $12.
The new key worked! The culinder wasn't bad, the key was worn. That made me think, if you lost your key or locked the keys in the car, you could do the same thing. I normally keep a spare key in a safebox, but I had given it to my wife. After I got my key, I got another made for the lockbox.
If you say, an average use of the car is a 17 mi. trip, then the key has ~17,500 trips on it, i think I'd be worn-out, too. :biglaugh: We keep vehicles a long time. I had a 3/4 ton 8' bed Dodge Ram Prospector Edition like KJ's and it had 170,000 mi. on it. My wife got 315,000 mi. from her Acura Integra she bought new and it still ran fine when she decided she'd had her $$'s worth. I put it in the Bargain Trader
and could have sold a dozen of them. I was getting calls for months afterwards. It was a 2 dr coupe 5 speed w/cast stock wheels, sunroof, leather, etc. She wanted to junk it, and I said, "I'll sell that is a week, no-problem!" It took a bit longer, but the 1st person who came to see it bought it.
I have a Kryptonite cable lock I wore-out the key on, and was able to send them the code to get another free under their OEM owner program, if you registered the lock at purchase. I couldn't get a key made locally, across the counter, they use a proprietary key design. The locksmith, when he wasn't able to match a blank, suggested contacting them directly, I did by email, and in about 3 days, I had a new key.
On fire-rescue, I had a baby locked in a car at a 7-11 in the summer. The mom was pretty-upset, luckily, the AC was on. I told her, "we'll try once to pick the lock w/our tools and then we're gonna have to break a window, because of the baby." We got it open, otherwise, it would have been a spring-loaded centerpunch.
The new key worked! The culinder wasn't bad, the key was worn. That made me think, if you lost your key or locked the keys in the car, you could do the same thing. I normally keep a spare key in a safebox, but I had given it to my wife. After I got my key, I got another made for the lockbox.
If you say, an average use of the car is a 17 mi. trip, then the key has ~17,500 trips on it, i think I'd be worn-out, too. :biglaugh: We keep vehicles a long time. I had a 3/4 ton 8' bed Dodge Ram Prospector Edition like KJ's and it had 170,000 mi. on it. My wife got 315,000 mi. from her Acura Integra she bought new and it still ran fine when she decided she'd had her $$'s worth. I put it in the Bargain Trader
and could have sold a dozen of them. I was getting calls for months afterwards. It was a 2 dr coupe 5 speed w/cast stock wheels, sunroof, leather, etc. She wanted to junk it, and I said, "I'll sell that is a week, no-problem!" It took a bit longer, but the 1st person who came to see it bought it.
I have a Kryptonite cable lock I wore-out the key on, and was able to send them the code to get another free under their OEM owner program, if you registered the lock at purchase. I couldn't get a key made locally, across the counter, they use a proprietary key design. The locksmith, when he wasn't able to match a blank, suggested contacting them directly, I did by email, and in about 3 days, I had a new key.
On fire-rescue, I had a baby locked in a car at a 7-11 in the summer. The mom was pretty-upset, luckily, the AC was on. I told her, "we'll try once to pick the lock w/our tools and then we're gonna have to break a window, because of the baby." We got it open, otherwise, it would have been a spring-loaded centerpunch.
