Reply to thread

Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum

Help Support Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Even though replacement keys have been recently talked about on a number of different threads, I couldn't find a thread dedicated to this topic so I thought I'd start one so we could find the information in the future. For example, My third i-MiEV did not come with a spare key and since we make it a habit of leaving the keys inside the car (unless we're in town) I became a little nervous at the prospect of inadvertently being locked out or something going wrong with our primary key. :(


eBay sells blanks ranging from $10 to over $100 - but what do I know? Called up the local key shop about a replacement key and they said "sure, no problem, just bring in your car and key". Not being ambulatory at present, I asked my wife to stop in there and get a replacement key made.


She came back and allowed as they made her a replacement key for  $63 and that it works to open the door and works in the ignition and the car operates just fine with this new key, but it is missing the buttons. :eek:  Presumably there is a chip in the key handle that the locksmith matched to the car.


I took the primary key far far away and confirmed that the replacement does indeed function as a stand-alone key. It will simply be stored in the house with all my other spare keys. Better than nothing and better than a dumb key that only opens the door, and certainly better than Mitsubishi dealer's price, for simple peace-of-mind. Don't plan on losing the main key with its buttons.


As an aside and way off-topic, I haven't removed the key from the ignition of my (presently mothballed but running) 1967 Saab in over 40 years - never lock the car (nothing inside worth taking), have a separate pushbutton starter button, and never worry as -

1) Who would steal it? :roll:

2) Even if they figured out how to start it, they would never figure out the column-mounted gearshift (especially reverse). :twisted:


Still off-topic, I can't help but wonder how all this fancy theft-proofing on the i-MiEV will work after 50 years?... it's struggling with stuff like this and difficulty in hacking cars' software that makes me think that present-day cars will never survive to become 'classics'.


Be interested in others' experiences with obtaining replacement keys.


Back
Top