All keys lost: what the job actually needs
Often possible, occasionally not, and it depends on the vehicle rather than the tool. What to establish before you commit to a time.
All keys lost is the job that separates a confident quote from an expensive afternoon. It is often possible. It is occasionally not. And which it is depends on the vehicle rather than on how good your tool is.
Three routes, and they are not equivalent
- Over the OBD port. Some immobilisers accept an all keys lost procedure with the car sitting there, in minutes. This is the good outcome.
- On the bench. Others need the module read directly, which means removing it from the vehicle. That turns a roadside call into a workshop visit and changes the price and the time.
- PIN first. A third group needs a security code read separately before anything can be written at all, and how you get that code varies by platform.
What to settle before you commit
- Which platform, precisely. Not the badge, the actual immobiliser system.
- Does your tool publish all keys lost support for that platform, as opposed to adding a spare?
- Is a PIN needed, and can you obtain it?
- Is the procedure OBD or bench on this platform?
- Do you have the keyway to cut a blade, and can you decode the lock if you need to?
The second point catches people. Adding a spare and all keys lost are different procedures with different support, and a tool that does one does not necessarily do the other on the same vehicle.
Getting a blade with no original
A 2-in-1 pick and decoder reads the lock rather than the key. You pick the wafers and the tool decodes the cuts as you go, so you leave with the bitting written down and can cut a working blank with no original and without removing the lock from the door.
Each tool is ground for one keyway, so it is chosen by keyway code and never by vehicle make.
Time, honestly
All keys lost takes longer than adding a spare, because the tool has to establish authorisation from nothing rather than from a working key. Some platforms enforce a security wait measured in minutes before they will accept a write. Quote for that rather than discovering it on the driveway.
What we will not tell you
We will not tell you a platform covers your vehicle unless the manufacturer says so. Every tool page here states the procedures its manufacturer publishes, and where coverage is unstated we leave it unstated rather than filling the gap.