I was told by service centre I had an unprogrammable key. Is that possible?
What is your question?
I've owned my 2010 Jeep Compass for just over a year and booked a maintenance appointment at the service centre attached to the Dealership where I got Jeep. When I purchased it came with 2 key fobs. One I used, and the other, which I had never used or checked, just stayed in a drawer. I gave my boyfriend the key from the drawer, so he could take the jeep in for service, and I went to work. Later I got a call from him saying my car would not start (we couldn't figure out why) and it was towed to the service centre. The next day we were told that the key from my drawer was a "bad key" and was not programmable and I had to buy a new key - total cost $318.10 (assessment and key)
I'm trying to figure out what went wrong.
Did the dealership sell me a faulty key to begin with?
Can a good working programmed key suddenly become unusable while sitting in a drawer?
What makes a key become "unprogrammable'?
(FYI - I've never had a problem with my main key I use daily)
Thanks!
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Hello, it's possible that the second key is faulty, or does not have the capability of being programmed to the vehicle. I'm not sure about yours, but I know some keys can be made to open doors only but not start vehicles. This is frustrating and unfortunate; You may want to consult the dealership sales personnel for some goodwill financial assistance -- can't hurt.
HI Dave :)
Hope you're doing well.
Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated! You are correct, the second key is faulty. I was supposed to get two fully functioning keys with my Jeep. I guess my question is, in what way is the 2nd key faulty? They are telling me it was not programmable and made me buy a new one. The dealership was NO help, and insinuated it's my fault for not checking the key when I got it. (My response was, why didn't you folks check the key BEFORE you gave it to me.) They are not willing to give me a penny. Their position is it could have gone from a working programmable key, to a non-working and non-programmable key while sitting in my drawer. My gut says, they gave me a bum key from the start. So hence my question to everyone on this site...can a functioning key just stop functioning even though it hadn't ben used. And what makes a key suddenly "non-programmable"?
Thanks!
Alison
Hi Alison,
In my experience, I have never seen a key lose its program sitting in a drawer. It appears that it was inoperative from the start.
Nothing will make the key "non-programmable" suddenly. Either its not a key that can be programmed in the first place, or it is damaged, or even a battery could be dead in the key.
I'm sorry -- yet not surprised -- that the selling dealership is not stepping up to take care of you.
HI Dave :) Hope you're doing well. Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated! You are correct, the second key is faulty. I was supposed to get two fully functioning keys with my Jeep. I guess my question is, in what way is the 2nd key faulty? They are telling me it was not programmable and made me buy a new one. The dealership was NO help, and insinuated it's my fault for not checking the key when I got it. (My response was, why didn't you folks check the key BEFORE you gave it to me.) They are not willing to give me a penny. Their position is it could have gone from a working programmable key, to a non-working and non-programmable key while sitting in my drawer. My gut says, they gave me a bum key from the start. So hence my question to everyone on this site...can a functioning key just stop functioning even though it hadn't ben used. And what makes a key suddenly "non-programmable"? Thanks! Alison
Hi Alison, In my experience, I have never seen a key lose its program sitting in a drawer. It appears that it was inoperative from the start. Nothing will make the key "non-programmable" suddenly. Either its not a key that can be programmed in the first place, or it is damaged, or even a battery could be dead in the key. I'm sorry -- yet not surprised -- that the selling dealership is not stepping up to take care of you.