2015 Scion TC
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

2015 Scion TC Smart Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

He was parked in a Border Area campus garage, came out after a night class, and nothing on the fob worked. Pressed lock, unlock, trunk. Nothing. Doors were shut tight, spare was at home somewhere in the 40-minute range, and the dealer told him Thursday was the earliest they could see him. It was Monday night.

He found EZ Car Keyz online and called. I was in the area and pulled into that garage within about 30 minutes.

First thing I do is get the door open, then I take a look at the fob itself before I touch anything else. He mentioned he had dropped it a few weeks back. When I cracked the case, the internal circuit board had a cracked solder joint near the battery contact. That kind of physical damage is not fixable with a reflow in a parking garage. The housing was also cracked through where it had hit the ground, so the whole unit needed to be replaced, not just the shell.

I built a new fob, cut the blade to match his lock, and connected to the OBD port to enroll the new key through the vehicle's security system. Full registration, tested every function: lock, unlock, trunk, and start.

He drove home that same night. The dealer route would have meant a tow, a three-day wait, and a bill that would have hurt. He saved a good chunk doing it this way and did not lose three days of his car.

The cracked solder joint from a single drop is something I have seen a few times on these. Not a design flaw, just physics. A small fob hits concrete at the wrong angle and the board takes the hit before the case does.

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