2012 Scion XD
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

2012 Scion XD Remote Head Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

She called me from a pediatric urgent care lot in Ramona, over in the Fernbrook area, around 8 in the evening. Her kid had a fever and she had a prescription waiting at a pharmacy that closed at 9. The 2012 Scion xD was sitting in the lot not starting.

The key was turning. The engine would catch for a second and die. That pattern almost always points to the transponder side of the remote head key dropping out, not the ignition cylinder itself.

She had been using the same key for years. What she didn't know was that the chip inside the key body had cracked, probably from a drop at some point, and it had finally stopped transmitting reliably enough for the immobilizer to accept it.

I got there, connected my diagnostic tool to the OBD port, confirmed the key registration was failing, and cut and programmed a new remote head key on site. The immobilizer accepted the new key on the first attempt.

From her call to engine running was 42 minutes. She made the pharmacy before it closed.

I don't bring up the dealer comparison much on nights like that. The Toyota dealer was already closed anyway. But even on a normal afternoon, getting a replacement key programmed there means scheduling, waiting, and spending a lot more than she spent with me. That part she figured out on her own when she called to say thank you the next day.

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