Lost car key could cost family thousands of dollars

[dark0821]

Originally Posted by underscore

They bought a vehicle from Velocity (mistake #1) that only came with one key (mistake #2) and never bothered to get another key made (mistake #3)?

I'm also not sure how their current solution is to sell the van for parts. If they can't find someone parting one out in North America then get someone to contact a wreckers in Japan and buy the keys, ECU and lock cylinders from a junkyard one. The ECU's are <$100 on eBay, I can't imagine the parts you need would cost more than a few hundred bucks.

THIS!

I had the exact same reaction when I read the story..There has to be some wrecker in Japan that will have the exact same van with a spare ECU and key fob... honestly you don't even need to replace the lock cylinders, a local lock smith can cut your original key just with access to your locks... but the ECU + matching key fob has to be less than a $1000 shipped and installed...

[underscore]

Originally Posted by TouringTeg

^ Yep. I've gone to my local Toyota dealer armed with a part number for the North American model and it is no problem. JDM specific parts is a no go.

Strange, because I've been able to get some JDM and Euro only parts from both Canadian and American Toyota dealers. Strangely enough some of the parts were stored in a Cali warehouse but US dealers couldn't sell them, and Canadian ones could.

[TouringTeg]

For whatever reason the Jim Pattinson owned Toyota dealer in Victoria won't attempt to get parts or provide service for JDM imported cars. The SA made it sound like it was their company policy.

[twitchyzero]

seems like a reasonable policy...especially for vehicles without a LHD equiv

unless i'm really hurting for business, doesn't seem to be worth the liability

[tofu1413]

Originally Posted by TouringTeg

For whatever reason the Jim Pattinson owned Toyota dealer in Victoria won't attempt to get parts or provide service for JDM imported cars. The SA made it sound like it was their company policy.

opens a can of worms - ordering wrong parts, customer refusing to grab it and they're stuck with the part.



i had the same thing going on at wolfe subaru.... asked for an impreza blank key for a j spec impreza.... and they looked at me as if i was crazy....

(just looking for a damn blank, non chipped key with oem subaru logo on it...)

[underscore]

Are you guys using part numbers or asking them to look up the part? I just call/email with the part number and they don't seem to pay attention to what the part actually is.

[TouringTeg]

I haven't tried that. At least then it is either a yes or a no.

Lyall Street Service is a popular shop in Victoria for servicing RHD cars. They are happy to work on them but it is up to the customer to supply the parts. Makes sense.

[JordanLee]

Thats the same key and transponder used on 3rd Gen 4Runners and 80 Series Land Cruisers. Anybody with Toyota Techstream software can reprogram new keys but the tricky part is that it requires a master in the ignition to be able to erase/create new keys.

[thumper]

Surrey family hires hacker, forks over thousands after losing car key | CTV Vancouver News

Surrey family hires hacker, forks over thousands after losing car key

David Molko catches up with a Surrey family whose quest to find a new key for their minivan is finally over after two long months.


Last Updated Wednesday, August 9, 2017 7:21PM PDT

Two months after a Surrey family lost the key to their minivan, the vehicle's owners were finally able to get back behind the wheel.
Maria and John Higgins went on a family trip to Victoria in early June using the Toyota Estima minivan they recently purchased as their getaway vehicle.
They'd purchased the Estima – a hybrid imported from Japan – from a Burnaby dealership less than a month before the trip.

Staff at Velocity Cars gave the couple only one key, but the Higgins family said they didn't give that much thought until they lost it somewhere along Wharf Street in Victoria.

"It was a wonderful family vacation, and then in one second, it turned into a nightmare," Maria said.

Like many modern vehicles, the Toyota key has a special transponder chip inside, which meant that even if they'd broken into the van, they wouldn't be able to drive it.
Their vacation was over, but since they couldn't find the key, the Higgins family decided to leave the van parked in Victoria.

They called Velocity Cars and other dealerships when they got home, thinking they could get another key, but they were told there was a bigger problem.

"I got a call from a dealer in Bellingham who services imported Toyotas," John told CTV News on June 7.
"And he said, the only way Toyota will cut you a new key is if your van is physically in a Toyota dealer in Japan."

So the family posted pictures of their missing key ring, offered up a $500 reward, and began their search for other options. They enlisted the help of three mechanics to help make calls overseas.

John said they spent the next 45 days speaking with Toyota staff in Japan with the help of an interpreter, pleading for someone to send reset instructions and a new key. Finally, on July 20, they were told that Toyota Japan would not help, John said.

"The way we see it, the key to our van was sitting on a shelf in Japan and could have, if there had been some strings pulled, been shipped over to us," John said.
"It's kind of puzzling when we're living in a world where everything is available all the time."

And Toyota in Canada couldn’t help the either, because the vehicle was manufactured 15 years ago and meant only for the Japanese market.

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson said, "We always recommend that Canadian consumers buy new or certified used Toyota vehicles from authorized Toyota dealerships in Canada so that we can properly support them as our customer over the life of their vehicle."
There was only one remaining option besides scrapping their $10,000 investment and starting over: "We have to find some guru who knows how to reset all this stuff without frying the whole thing," Maria said.

So Velocity Cars helped connect the Higgins with a mechanic in Richmond, who worked with a "hacker." The specialist, who didn't want to be identified, said he could likely hack the vehicle's immobilizer box, an electronic security device that stops the engine from running unless a key with the correct chip inside is inserted.

The Higgins family hired a tow truck to bring the vehicle from Victoria to Richmond. The mechanic removed the dashboard, disconnected the immobilizer, and sent it to the reprogrammer.

The hacker had to solder wires to a chip, delete the data for the old keys, then reprogram the new ones, John said. Then the mechanic had to reassemble the dash.

“They showed us our torn apart van and it was like...it's never going to get put back together!” Maria said.

Finally on Wednesday, more than two months after losing their key, the Higgins family was reunited with their van and able to try the new keys.

“Oh man!” John exclaimed, laughing in disbelief as the hybrid whirred into life.

“You take this action every day for granted. 2,500 bucks and years off my life!”

The Higgins' total bill came to roughly $4,530 for the new keys, the tow, the mechanic and hacker. John said, Velocity paid for about half of the expenses.

Velocity’s general manager Serge Mozgovoy but told CTV that staff members were “surprised and shocked” by how complicated the process was.
And when asked if they were warning their customers, Mozgovoy said, "the best we can do is recommend not to lose the key."
He added, "I know for some reason it’s going to [happen again]…but now at least we have a solution."

Working keys in hand, John gave the mechanic a hug, and said he planned to put one of the three new keys in a bank vault. It wasn’t clear if he was joking.

"I've never lost a key yet," quipped his wife.

"Really, don’t say that!" John laughed, as the couple and their two children finally drove off.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's David Molko

[TouringTeg]

I wonder what the cost would have been to ship it to Japan and back again

[The Producer]

Toyota's policy is weird. They should be able to make up a key.

I just got a spare key made up for my JDM bmw. Took in the vin number to the dealer, got a key made and shipped from the fatherland 10 days later. Didn't even have to program it (yes, it does have a chip/ immobilizer)

[underscore]

That's what they ended up doing? None of the dipshits involved thought to just get a new ECU, keys and cylinders from a wreckers? I'm guessing the "hacker" (that's cracking, not hacking CTV. Great reporting skills) probably knew that but didn't bother to tell them since they paid him a pile of money.

[CorneringArtist]

Originally Posted by The Producer

Toyota's policy is weird. They should be able to make up a key.

I just got a spare key made up for my JDM bmw. Took in the vin number to the dealer, got a key made and shipped from the fatherland 10 days later. Didn't even have to program it (yes, it does have a chip/ immobilizer)

I can probably guess that programming is done in Germany as well. BMW does it right, offering global support for something as important as a key as long as you have the VIN.