kitchamp

Try Sewell Parts. They have it listed at ~$340 for the card and $65 for the (uncut) metal key blade that fits in it. Cutting is extra. Don't forget, members of this forum save more too.

MikeE12345

jmcraney,
Thanks for taking the time to communicate this to the rest of us in such understandable detail. I can just see you sitting there reading this thread until you finally say to yourself - OK thats enough, time to set these guy straight.

I greatly enjoy reading your posts. I have learned a lot following this forum and your posts are always among the most interesting and informative. I’ve already been out to the car with aluminium foil in hand and sure enough everything works as you said.

One interesting fact is that if the car’s engine is running and you leave it (for whatever reason) taking the key with you then anyone can still get in and drive away. However, once they turn the engine off they won’t be able to restart it!

P.S. I bet you occasionally contribute content to Wikipedia.

Dema

An excellent post jmcraney. Now I can imagine you can set-up some traffic analyser near any car and figure how to unlock and start it without a key.

Funny thing that I was few times in situation keys in wife's purse. Worst thing was when I took keys with me, but from different car. So it took time me to realise why I can't operate this car having keys in pocket.

Dema

It is safety feature to do not stop engine if key communication got lost, otherwise you can crash your car driving 65 miles on freeway, and accidentally lose wife with keys in purse.

I have another question, does LS actually have key hole, where I can insert my smart key? I didn't see any hatch on a key itself making it hold somewhere, however I noticed small compartment on left, maybe it is place for key?

edarte

Yes, if you check your manual you will see how to use your metal key (stored in remote) to pry off the small silver cover on the door lock. Then insert key into the exposed keyhole.

Dema

Thanks. I know how to use metallic key to unlock doors and ... open glove compartment. But I didn't notice any ignition key hole. Previous cars actually consumed entire plastic key for that.

Do not want to hijack the thread, but it can be related. What if car battery went down, yes, you can still open doors with keys, but what about trunk?
It was funny design flaw in BMW. My model had key mechanism to open trunk where battery resides, but newer model lost the mechanical locker, so if for some reason battery was disconnected and trunk closed, it became really tricky to open it.

MikeE12345

No problem. If the electronic key battery is depleted you can use the mechanical key to open the doors. Once inside the car you can use the trunk opener switch that will work even in the absence of the electronic key. If the trunk switch is disabled from the glove compartment, open it with the mechanical key then re-enable the trunk switch.

kitchamp

If your key battery dies and need to start the car, simply touch the key fob to the ignition switch (L-emblem side touching the button) and the green light above start will illuminate, allowing you to start the car.