1999 Ford Taurus
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

1999 Ford Taurus Transponder Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

She landed at LAX on a red-eye, took the shuttle to long-term parking in Escondido, and nothing about her morning was going the way she planned.

The Taurus was right where she left it. The door would not open. She had one key with her, tried it in the door lock, and it turned but the car sat there and did nothing after she got in. No start. She thought the battery was dead. She flagged down a lot attendant, got a jump. Still nothing. The engine would crank, fire for a second, and then shut right back down.

She called the dealer. They told her Thursday. It was Tuesday morning and she had work the next day.

I got to her in Westside Escondido, and she had already driven the car over by the time I arrived. She described the crank-and-stall and I already had a pretty good picture of what was happening. That behavior, engine catches and immediately dies, points to the vehicle security system not recognizing the key. The transponder chip inside the key head communicates with an antenna ring sitting around the ignition. If that read fails, the system cuts fuel almost instantly. The engine sounds like it wants to run. It does not.

I checked the key. The plastic head had a crack running right through the area where the chip is housed, probably from being dropped or squeezed in a bag over time. The chip was still physically there but the read was intermittent at best.

Cut a new key blade to her vehicle, transferred everything properly, ran the programming sequence. First start, it held. She sat there for a second like she was waiting for it to stall again. It did not.

The dealer would have had her towing it in, waiting two days, and paying considerably more for the privilege. She was home before noon.

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