2021 Kia Forte
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

2021 Kia Forte Smart Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

Out near Santee Lakes, a guy called me from the parking area on a weekday afternoon. He had been out on the water most of the morning and came back to find his 2021 Kia Forte exactly where he left it, locked, with no key to get into it.

He had set the fob on a towel near the water. It was gone. He had already walked the bank twice. He was dripping, sunburned, and had already looked up tow companies when he found my number instead.

He figured it was a Monday problem, dealer tow and all. I told him I could be there that afternoon, and I was.

Without a working key there is no unlocking the car by traditional means, so I decoded the door cylinder mechanically to figure out the cut, then made a working blade from that. Getting inside was step one. Step two was connecting through the OBD port to retrieve the vehicle's security credentials and run the all-keys-lost procedure. On this generation Forte, that process wipes any previously registered fobs from the system entirely, which is exactly what you want when a key is missing and unaccounted for. New fob goes in, gets paired, gets tested across all four buttons and the insert blade.

He started the car standing next to the lake with wet sandals on. That was the whole job, done in the same lot where he launched his kayak.

He mentioned later he had called the dealer first and they told him he would need a tow and an appointment. By the time all that added up, I had already driven home.

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