2002 Ford Focus
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in Ventura County

2002 Ford Focus Transponder Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

I got a call from a guy in College Estates, the neighborhood tucked in off Gonzales Road in Oxnard. His 2002 Focus had been sitting in his carport for three days. He had one key left, and it snapped off in the ignition cylinder while he was trying to start the car on a cold morning. The broken piece was in there. The car was not going anywhere.

He had already called a dealer. They told him he'd need a tow, a lock cylinder pull, a new key cut and programmed, and he'd be waiting on parts. He was looking at a week without his car, minimum, and the quote they gave him made him sit down.

I showed up with the van, which carries a key cutting machine, a full transponder programmer, and K-H74 blanks ready to cut. I extracted the broken blade from the cylinder first. That part takes patience. The cylinder was fine, which is usually the good news in a snap job because it means you're not replacing hardware, just the key.

I cut a new blade to the vehicle, programmed the transponder chip to the immobilizer, and tested it through four start cycles. Car fired up every time. He had a working key in his hand in under an hour, standing next to his own carport.

He asked me what the dealer would have charged. I told him to think of it as a fraction of that. He laughed a little and said the tow alone would have cost him more than my whole job. That part I believed.

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