Modern vehicles heavily rely on chip keys to open them. But these keys can be damaged, lost, or run out of battery.
When this happens, you may wonder, “How to start my car without chip key? Is it possible to do so?”
Continue reading this blog because we’ll be sharing all the tricks and techniques for starting a car without a chip key and more!
What Is The Technology Behind Chip Key?
A chip key, technically called a transponder key, is primarily an electrical chip with a thin wire coil wrapped around it for electromagnetic signal transmission and reception.
The chip itself would be comparable to the RAM in your smartphone or computer in that it doesn’t need an ongoing supply of electricity to store memory.
A Magnetic Coupled Transponder System (MCTS) is the name for the transponder type found in vehicle keys.
As these systems don’t need continuous electricity, they don’t have a separate power supply.
Designers are able to embed a car key transponder into the key’s bow because it functions in the radio frequency range of a vehicle key (about 125 kHz), which can pass through plastic or rubber.
Car key transponders only operate at a range of 1 to 15 cm since they lack a power source of their own.
How To Start My Car Without Chip Key?
Transponder chips are made to be completely inaccessible, making it impossible to start a car without one.
A licensed dealership is able to read the necessary frequency from your car and produce a replacement.
But if you just have one transponder chip accessible, there is a solution you can try.
You can follow these steps to open a car without a chip key:
- With pliers or a screwdriver, first take off your silicone cover. Something pointy might work better to provide leverage because of the tighter seal.
- Now take the chip out of the gadget. It looks like a black square or translucent tube.
- Put the chip on a piece of tape, then secure it to the lock.
- Start your key by using a broken or fresh key without the chip.
- If the car won’t start, move the tape and give it another shot.
- Once you’ve located a place where your chip will function, glue it in place.
- The transponder chip, which is constantly close to the ignition lock, allows any key replica to function.
The fact that you are breaking a layer of protection may be a drawback, but it is not a major issue because your car’s anti-theft systems continue to function as deterrents.
Strangely, since interference results from two transponder chips being close to one another, it could occasionally even be a better security mechanism.
Other Methods To Start Car Without Chip Key
You might try the following techniques to start your vehicle if the procedures mentioned above don’t work.
These alternatives will enable you to function until you acquire a spare key or have a locksmith make you a new set.
Directly Start The Car
After you are inside, starting your car is simple.
Most automakers have designed a system to function even if the remote is not working because they anticipate that keyless ignition will be necessary if the fob malfunctions.
The majority of cars have a manual start feature, and others have keyless start options built into the key fob that work rather well.
Even if your car has keyless entry, you might not have noticed that there is a key slot near the steering column.
Using Drills and Screwdrivers
The easiest and most common way to start the ignition on your car is with a screwdriver and drill.
But you must exercise extreme caution to protect the ignition!
With this technique, you must begin drilling your keyhole at the inner flap point. It might measure around ⅔” long.
You must then remove the drill and lock bits..
You can now insert the screwdriver head and try to start the vehicle.
Even a piece of metal will work if you don’t have a screwdriver.
As a result, it is anticipated that your automobile will start without issue.
Use Mobile Apps
Another alternative to the key fob is to unlock and start the car using a smartphone app. Quite a few new cars are equipped with this feature.
Depending on the automaker, there are typically several applications to utilize for different automobiles.
Hotwiring
Another method of starting a car without a key is hotwiring. The hotwiring technique is ideal for cars made in the 1990s.
Here are the steps to hotwiring a car without a chip key:
- For this method to work, the plastic cover on the steering column must be removed.
- You must first remove the screws that hold the two sides together because they are attached. Your access to the ignition system will be made possible by this.
- Put on your insulated or protective gloves before proceeding to the next step.
- Keep an eye out for the starter and battery cables now. The wiring for the battery are typically the red lines. On the other side, the ignition is represented by the brown and yellow cables.
- Create a little insulating cut in the cables of your battery.
- Cut the cables coming from your cylinder now as well.
- Finally, twist the wires’ and battery cables’ ends together.
Red Coil Cable Method
Those with the necessary skills and experience to work on a car typically employ this strategy.
If you have the skills of a qualified mechanic, you can use this to start your car without a key.
- Look beneath the hood and grab the jump starter cable as your initial course of action.
- The red coil cable must then be connected to the positive terminal of the battery. The coil’s positive side is another name for this cable.
- Continue with this process by unlocking your steering wheel to find the starting solenoid if the dashboard has not yet gotten any electricity.
- You must keep in mind that the solenoid should be connected to the battery’s positive terminal.
- As you short-circuit the positive post of the solenoid with a screwdriver, disconnect the switch wire from the solenoid one. The electrical harness is installed here.
- You can automatically provide 12 volts to the battery in your car using this technique. The solenoid’s activation enables the starter to turn the car on.
Can I Disable The Transponder Key System Of My Car?
Yes, you can disable the system in case you misplace the transponder key or just don’t want to use the technology anymore.
Follow these steps to know how to disable transponder key system without key:
- Get into your car and insert the key into the ignition.
- Twist the key to the “On” position and hold for 10 minutes and 30 seconds.
- After holding the “On” position, the key is cycled back to “Off.”
- Following the third cycle, stop in the “Off” position by repeating the previous process two more times.
- With your key erased, remove t without starting the ignition. Your key will remain disabled and the programming sequence will be closed.
And if you’re wondering if you can bypass a transponder key system, the answer is yes!
You can fully bypass the transponder without a key with the help of a transponder key bypass kit and diagram.
You must, however, be careful that this doesn’t void the warranty on your car.
But if you’re unsure that you can build a spare transponder yourself, you can request that the locksmith make one for you.
The Drawback Of Disabling The Transponder Key System
Of course, employing the above method has some serious disadvantages because you’re removing a layer of security.
The main drawback of doing this is that it lowers the security of your car, which makes it easier to steal.
Most skilled car thieves are still able to steal a car despite all the security features that automobiles have.
So if security is your top priority, then we wouldn’t advise disabling your chip key system.
Conclusion
Today’s automotive sector has flourished, and complicated automotive technologies are being developed.
As a result, bypassing vehicle technology without authorized assistance is difficult.
We hope the thorough information we provided about the topic “how to start my car without chip key” will be helpful to you in an emergency.
