Car won’t start Car Key Problem?

 Car Won’t Start is it a Car Key Problem?

Car keys get a rough deal. Sometimes when there’s nothing else to blame, the diagnosis will be that the reason for the car not starting is a car key problem. Highly professional AA, RAC and garage technicians will look at immobiliser fault codes and blame the car not starting on a car key problem. This article is to help you if you’re being told you have a car key problem and want to know more about it all.

We’re not technicians. As well as this, we don’t have the expertise and experience of the many roadside breakdown services that work through the worst conditions, on poorly maintained cars and manage to get most of them running.

There’s nothing but respect from us. However, we do know keys, and they’re often blamed for a car not starting when the symptoms just don’t add up. Here’s a make by make guide, to let you know if you have a car key problem.

Just need help with changing the key battery? Click Here

Did your car keys get wet? That’s not good. Click Here to find out haow you can save them

With all of the makes below, if you think you have a car key problem, our advice is simple. Don’t spend any money on new car keys until you’ve had a chat with a friendly car key man. There are hundreds of independent Auto Locksmiths around the country.

Give your local car key man a call and get them to check out your key for you. Every week we get calls from frustrated car owners that ordered a new car key because they were told it was faulty, only to find there is something else wrong with the car.

Here are a list of the popular manufacturers and the associated problems.

Ford

These keys hardly ever fail. The older chips are well made, along with the keys in general. The newer type of key from 2012 are using the ‘virtual chip’ instead a stand alone transponder. This is the same as all of the French keys (they are terrible, more about these in a bit). Read about the the few problems you will see by clicking here.

Vauxhall

A tale of two halves. The earlier style of key that don’t fold down are really good quality, lasting 10-15 years. These are found on the Astra G and the Zaifira A. However their attempt at making a flip-key has been disappointing and the cause of non-starting cars. Read how to spot a Vauxhall car key problem by clicking here.

Citroen

Again, a tale of two halves. If ypu have the old style of key where the blade is static, (always poiny out) then we only see one problem. If you have recently swapped the rubber key case, you may have thrown away the chip.

Later keys flip out and these are the worst keys we see. Poorly made and bad design. Click here to read more.

Peugeot

Much the same as the Citroen issues. The early keys are fine but when the introduced the flip key, it all went wrong

Typical Citroen and Peugeot key

Need to find out more about Peugeot keys? Click Here

Renault

There’s so much that we can say about Renault car keys. Owners love the cars, but hate the car keys. Of of the makes we cover, we believe that Renault have the biggest car key problem. The problem is when they introduced the idea of a credit card that started the car.

We can’t understand why they did this, or stayed with it. Click here to read more