I brought my car in to have some body work done at the local dealership. It was suppose to take 3 days but ended up taking 2 weeks. When I got my car back, it was clear they had lost my keys and given me new ones. Now my second set of keys won't work. They want to charge me $130 to reprogram them.

Can I do it myself?

 

You can, but they should do it. Their fault.

 

You can not program iKeys by yourself. However, you should be good if they gave you two new keys. I assume you have one left and you don't need three keys paired to your car so you should be able to sell it.

 

I thought it could be programmed if you had more than 2 keys - at least that's how it was on my Cobra.

 

You need to take to a place that has the software to do it
I took mine to a lock smith that had the software and charged
Me $60 including to recut the key..

 

I always wondered if a locksmith can really do it. They would need CONSULT laptop/software bundle AND the security add on for it which I thought was only available to Nissan / Infiniti dealers.

Then they also need ALL of the keys at the same time to be paired to the car.

Did you watch them do it?

 

I did see him
He used my old remote and he had his laptop.
It took him less than 10 min to do it..

 

I'm sure you saw him and all, but something doesn't seem right. It sounds like he cloned your existing key somehow?

I assume you meant he used your existing ikey that wasn't lost or damaged? Cuz there wouldn't be a need to copy a functioning key that you already have?

Plus as far as I knew ... the iKeys are NOT programmable. They have a static RFID. It's really the car that is programmed to accept up to 4 unique iKeys.

The two keys that came with the car are UNIQUE because the car recognizes each one and can customize seat (for sedan), steering and mirror position based on the ikey used to unlock the car. You probably can't have different settings for two drivers anymore?

On a side note ... it's just scary to know how easy it is now to clone the iKey and steal the car! Imagine if every valet guy has a laptop nearby!

 

This makes complete sence. So its the car that gets program...
Maybe both the ikey and the car get program to accept each other.
I know that the ikey that i got was use, so maybe now I can also use it
to open someone elses car too LOL...
I'm not sure exactly how the programing works but it can be done by
others besides the dealers...

 

A single iKey can indeed be paired to more than one car. I think a forum member has already done it. The only problem is with remote fuctions (like window down, trunk release etc) where both cars will react.

Sorry ... not questioning what you saw. I'm just curious to know what the locksmith really did.

 

No worries it's always good to ask..

 

I got my G37 used and the owner only had one key. I bought a second on Amazon for a good price and took both keys to a locksmith to be programmed. My understanding is they wipe the key programming then re-add the keys. I don't think they have the option to just add a key and retain existing keys. This was good for me, as I was thinking in the back of my head that somewhere out there is a key from the previous owner that could be used on my car (prior to my reprogram).

 

I went back to mission viejo infiniti. The service manager made all kind of excuses. He said I could have dropped the key fob in water, so I asked him to check and he said they already did. Then he said the battery could have died, so again I asked him to check and he said they already did. I was thinking after I left if the battery dying means you have to reprogram then every time you changed the battery you would need to reprogram it. I have no idea why he kept on bring up things that could have happened that he knew didn't happen.

I decided I'm just only going to have 1 key and hope I don't lose it. I can't believe that dealers of even higher end cars are so slimy. I'm just going to start taking the car to a mom and pop type place for maintenance. They are half the price.

 

Are you kidding? Make a huge fuss, call Infiniti corporate, it's not much trouble for the dealer to fix this, they're just being slimeballs.

Unless they can PROVE that you damaged a key, they have to replace it under warranty.

 

I thought they already made things right with you by providing you with a new set of 2 iKeys?