Key Fob Capers

[jwolf99]

So my car was delivered to my dealer in the wee hours of yesterday morning. I don't take delivery until Friday, but I dropped the dealer to to take a peek. It was dirty as sin with a nasty layer of rail and road dust on it making the infrared tintcoat color look almost rust colored from some angles. Can't wait to see it on Friday after it's cleaned up.

There was one glitch that they told me about immediately. One of the key fobs was not for my car. It was similar to mine, including red paint that matched the red calipers and had the V logo on it. But it had no remote start button on it meaning it was likely for a manual instead of automatic (mine is an A10). The Sales Manager thinks there was another BW on the same truck for another dealer and the driver mixed up the fobs while loading or unloading. I am hoping that's the case and they can track it down. While they look into it, they said they will at least order another fob in the interim just in case they cannot track down the other one for my car.

Now I would really like to keep a non-suspicious mindset about this and believe this is a genuine mix up. After all, this other fob almost had to be for another BW with M6 transmission given given the absence of a remote start and the V logo on it with red color matching. It felt as heavy as mine, so not likely a dummy without anything inside. The dealer has my car locked up until I take delivery. But I almost sure I saw someone post something about a scam where fobs were being swapped with dummy fobs with intent of using the stolen fob to steal the car later on. I also recall someone saying it was happening in NJ. Couldn't find that post however.

How concerned should I be and can anything be done to prevent the old fob from working on the car? Can the coding on the car itself be changed to essentially make the lost fob useless?

 

[SSEEYA]

So my car was delivered to my dealer in the wee hours of yesterday morning. I don't take delivery until Friday, but I dropped the dealer to to take a peek. It was dirty as sin with a nasty layer of rail and road dust on it making the infrared tintcoat color look almost rust colored from some angles. Can't wait to see it on Friday after it's cleaned up.

There was one glitch that they told me about immediately. One of the key fobs was not for my car. It was similar to mine, including red paint that matched the red calipers and had the V logo on it. But it had no remote start button on it meaning it was likely for a manual instead of automatic (mine is an A10). The Sales Manager thinks there was another BW on the same truck for another dealer and the driver mixed up the fobs while loading or unloading. I am hoping that's the case and they can track it down. While they look into it, they said they will at least order another fob in the interim just in case they cannot track down the other one for my car.

Now I would really like to keep a non-suspicious mindset about this and believe this is a genuine mix up. After all, this other fob almost had to be for another BW with M6 transmission given given the absence of a remote start and the V logo on it with red color matching. It felt as heavy as mine, so not likely a dummy without anything inside. The dealer has my car locked up until I take delivery. But I almost sure I saw someone post something about a scam where fobs were being swapped with dummy fobs with intent of using the stolen fob to steal the car later on. I also recall someone saying it was happening in NJ. Couldn't find that post however.

How concerned should I be and can anything be done to prevent the old fob from working on the car? Can the coding on the car itself be changed to essentially make the lost fob useless?

I would be nervous too. I hope there is a way to reprogram the remote. They should also be able to track down the missing FOB pretty easily. If it is an honest mix-up there will be another owner looking to get his FOB back from you as well. I would pursue that ASAP.

 

[RDATLTE]

I’d certainly be very concerned.

 

[jdpeake]

There was a mention of this in one of the feeds. Could be honest or dishonest as hell......

 

[BenBaad]

This was the post I put up here. Definitely sketch, and hopefully the dealer is taking the necessary precautions.

 

[jwolf99]

Thanks @BenBaad - that's what I was looking for.

Hey @poor-sha, do you still access to the shop manuals? If so, does it say anything about procedure to have the car ignore/forget a given key fob or even erase all existing fobs and then reprogram from scratch?

 

[Daijoubu]

Thanks @BenBaad - that's what I was looking for.

Hey @poor-sha, do you still access to the shop manuals? If so, does it say anything about procedure to have the car ignore/forget a given key fob or even erase all existing fobs and then reprogram from scratch?

Dealer should pretty easily be able to disassociate all existing keys with the car. Then, reprogram the new keys appropriately.

 

[1Evil55]

Policy all caught up?

 

[ajamils]

Serves you right for ordering an Automatic




j/k..... hope you get it figured out. In worse case, dealer should be able to order you a new key.

 

[jwolf99]

Serves you right for ordering an Automatic




j/k..... hope you get it figured out. In worse case, dealer should be able to order you a new key.

yea, yea, yea. The M6 would have been theft deterrent in and of itself.

As for my policy, I just added the 5BW and dropped my 2015 Quattroporte (which I am selling) and my 6 month premium (Geico) dropped by $141. So there's that, though the VIN clearly doesn't provide any indication of the $35k in options on the car, and that worries me a bit.

 

[Daijoubu]

Kind of related. Everyone needs to know how to disable the keyless access on their cars, especially if you park a car outside. I even do it for cars parked in my garage...just in case. This keeps thieves from amplifying your key fob signal (from inside your house) and stealing your car. The Cadillac way is to press and hold the lock and unlock button on the fob for a few seconds to lock the car. Very easy. You need to unlock the car with the fob button the next time you use the car.

 

[poor-sha]

Thanks @BenBaad - that's what I was looking for.

Hey @poor-sha, do you still access to the shop manuals? If so, does it say anything about procedure to have the car ignore/forget a given key fob or even erase all existing fobs and then reprogram from scratch?

From the FSM:

"Transmitters can be programming in various ways using the procedures outlined below. Using the Replacing Transmitters procedures will first erase all the known transmitters from the vehicle. Any existing transmitters and any new transmitters will then be programmed. This procedure should be used any time a transmitter is required to be unlearned or erased from a vehicle. If a new transmitter is being learned to a vehicle to replace a damaged, inoperative, or stolen transmitter, the Replacing Transmitters procedure must be used. This ensures that the old transmitter cannot be used to access or start the vehicle after programming."

 

[jwolf99]

From the FSM:

"Transmitters can be programming in various ways using the procedures outlined below. Using the Replacing Transmitters procedures will first erase all the known transmitters from the vehicle. Any existing transmitters and any new transmitters will then be programmed. This procedure should be used any time a transmitter is required to be unlearned or erased from a vehicle. If a new transmitter is being learned to a vehicle to replace a damaged, inoperative, or stolen transmitter, the Replacing Transmitters procedure must be used. This ensures that the old transmitter cannot be used to access or start the vehicle after programming."

Thanks very much