The dealership should have given your friend a card with code on it when he first bought it, they always put it inside the owner's manual.

 

Newer models have, it's a key that u use to reset or reprogram all the settings of the car.

 

wow crazy shiet. i never heard of anything about it

 

Well, its really not new, nor is it big news. Car companies have had coded keys for about 10-15 years. It's only been the last 5 or so that the technology has trickled down to virtually every car, not just elite or expensive high end. Heck, MB and BMW have done away with the cut tooth key and tumbler ignition as we know it on their high end models. On BMW 7-series, you insert the ignition tool which kind of resembles a key, but it really isn't. You stick the piece into the dashboard where it's marked and the car is in accessory mode. Then you press the start button to start the engine. That device contains an actual electronic circuit which tells the car's ECM and ignition to "wake up". On Mercedes, you insert a similar device, turn it to accessory, and press the fob itself to start the car. My aunt's 1992 Buick LeSabre has Pass-Key, which is the easiest and cheapest way to code a key. Just a little chip resistor. When it first came out in 1989, it was great. But it only took about a year for theives to learn how to defeat it. Transponders are much more difficult to defeat, but they can be done. The ignition fobs that MB and BMW have are the first real theft ignition protection. Because the cars are so computer oriented, you'd need an engineering degree to understand how to hotwire it.

 

yeah i always heard that the bENZ are the hardest to jack cuz they got those laser cut keys. but i bet one day they'll find a way to override those computer. but i never expected HONDA to have something like that RED KEY.

 

I actually went to the dealership today and I got the code without paying a single dime. What you need to do is just take out your friends center console and remove the radio and write down the serial number, the model number, and the reference number. Bring those sets of numbers to the parts department and they will look it up for you at no charge. Hope that helps.

When I bought my car last year (used 2001 SH), I never received the red key. The dealership only gave me one key (yea....its bull****!). So I thought I need the red key too to reprogram the other keys, but that's not so. The Acura dealership that I bought my car from didn't even need the red key in order to reprogram it. All they did was just use the current key and copied the key and the chip inside the key (don't ask me how they did it) but IF you did lose your red key when you first bought your car, its not the end of the world! THEY ARE ABLE TO REPROGRAM YOUR KEY WITHOUT IT!!!!

 

One day what Mercedes and BMW have will trickle down to a Honda Civic. What Honda has now, MB had ten years ago. Just like everything concerning technology, as it gets cheaper to make, more products will use it. As for the red key, I think Honda debuted it on the 1997 Prelude. I don't recall which, if any, Acuras had it at the time, but I would assume at least the RL did, since it was last redesigned in 1996.

 

Well that's good to know. My dealer had me a little worried (not that I have a tendency to loose things), and the salesman made sure I understood all about the key. So then the other side of the story is don't loose any of your keys, as someone could just go to any Honda/Acura dealer and have it copied. By the way, how much did they charge you?

 

Acutally, it was free because I went back to the dealership later on that week to have an extra key made in case I lost the only key that I had But I'm sure if you lost it now and you had the car for a few years, they'd hassle you and make excuses not to make it. But they ARE able to do it without the red key.

 

but damn there still a red key out there. and that person can just make a copy and jack your car.