HOW TO DISABLE FORD PATS ANTI-THEFT SYSTEM KEY CHIP
Ford (and many other) vehicles have a transponder chip
inside their physical keys. This is sometimes called PATS or VATS.
This only worked because I had a working key (with a chip transponder in it) that can start my car. I guess it's less "disable" and more "how to make $1.50 copies of my $200 keys that will start my car instead of just unlocking the doors".
A replacement key is around $150-$200 from a dealer, $80
from a locksmith. You can get a blank (with a chip) and use your car to program
that blank’s internal transponder IF YOU HAVE TWO OTHER WORKING KEYS WITH
TRANSPONDERS IN THEM. One of my keys is now old and the plastic base is
cracking so I’m afraid to stick it in the ignition in case if breaks off in
there.
I went to the hardware store and got a $1.75 copy key made.
It does NOT have a transponder in it, so all it could do was unlock my vehicle’s
door. It wouldn’t start the vehicle. I could turn the ignition with it, but not
actually make the car start because there was no transponder chip.
If I held my real Ford key touching the cheap copy key in a
certain way I could get the cheap copy to actually start my vehicle. It is very
awkward to do, and then I’m still carrying around my cheap copy key and my
cracked and about to fall apart real key with the transponder.
I could go to a Ford dealer and pay $200 and get a second real
key with a transponder—which would then let me get a slightly cheaper uncoded
transponder key and use both the real Ford keys to program the third. But I found
a cheaper way online and tweaked the bypass method to make it easy.
It takes
less than 10 seconds to install/uninstall.
- All I did was wrap a 6’ long wire around the real Ford key
(with the transponder in it).
- I made 10 wraps around the Ford key and secured it with two
pieces of tape so it wouldn’t uncoil.
- I then joined the bared wire ends together so that the wire
was a loop. For kicks I hit that joint with a dab of solder.
- This gave me a real key with a transponder in it hanging
from a loop of wire. I went into my car and wrapped the wire twice around the
part of the ignition that spins when you turn the key to start the car.
The wire loops sort of just tucked themselves in and disappeared
inside that spinning ignition part. Nice! Then I stuck in my fake copy key
(which has no transponder) and the vehicle started right up.
Then I tucked the dangling real Ford key into a space in the
dashboard
above the steering column because in the column or in the dash beneath the steering column has metal plates and wires that wouldn't let this work due to interference!
My finger is pointing where the key is tucked behind. Everywhere else had interference. I used red wire so it would be visible, I'll probably redo it in black. Although you can't see the red wire from the driver or passenger seat. If you look where the red wire is going on: the key for in there nicely BUT HAD INTERFERENCE SO THE CAR WOULDN'T START... MOVE OUT 3 INCHES HIGHER WHERE MY FINGER IS POINTING AND THE CAR STARTS.
I pushed the key down through the top of thet plastic bezel between the speedometer glass and the top of the steering wheel.
Then I pulled the wires through the rubber gasket that surrounds where the steering wheel column goes into/under that bezel.
Spend $6 and made 3 more fake no transponder keys for backups.
Instead of $270 I spent less than $10 and less than 5 minutes on this. The
hardest part was finding a wire that was long enough out of my junk bin.
WARNING: I’ve seen a LOT of online tutorials that say you
have to disassemble the steering column and/or dashboard. These people look
under the steering column and all say the same thing “There are 4 holes, but
only 3 have screws in them”. They then say to take out those 3 screws which is
WRONG!!! The 4th hole with no
screw is an ignition release!! Jab a screwdriver in there and gently pull out
the ignition. Duh! Although, I didn’t take anything apart, I just loop the
wire twice around where the spinning ignition part meets the steering column.
No need for any screwdrivers.
If you do pop out the ignition from the steering column you can see a round ring that is the antenna to detect the chip inside your real key. Crack open your real key, take out the chip, superglue it on/near that antenna and any old (non-chip) key will work but things inside the column can interfere with the chip as stated before, you could probably jam a screwdriver into the ignition instead of a key and it would start up.
The best part: just yank on the wire and unloop it from
around the ignition and it’s disconnected. It still works as a regular key; and because I didn't go crazy with the electrical tape holding the 10 loops around the key together it still (barely) fits in the ignition.
WARNING: if this
is on the vehicle it’s reading the transponder from the real Ford key. If I try to start the vehicle with another real Ford key (because I finally found
a spare) the car won’t start supposedly, however my real key and my fake keys all work. Just don't test all your keys in quick succession because you'll put the car into key code program mode. The antitheft system will see BOTH keys and
get confused.
One real key with this setup tucked into the UPPER dash + a second real key at a relatives house for safe keeping + a bunch of cheap $1.50 copies.
This works with induction (coils of wire). There are very
similar devices on Amazon for $10 but they want you to tap them into the 12volt
system of the car for some reason. My
way doesn’t physically connect to the vehicle’s electronics in any way. I
just looped it around the real key 10 times and the spinning part of the
ignition twice. Worked the first time and every time after that. Both ends of the wire have to touch each
other or it won’t work—they have to be a loop. I wonder: if I put a simple
on/off switch in the loop would it act as a kill switch? I think it would! That’s
a future project.
I’m doing this for fun, the Blue Book Value of my vehicle is
less than $3000 and it’s 18 years old so…I’m not terribly worried about theft.
What would be the odds that a car thief would say “Hmmm…that vehicle over there came from the factory with anti-theft key
chip transponders but I have this psychic sense that the owner did that famous antitheft
defeat thing. I think I’ll smash the window and try and jiggle a screwdriver
around in the ignition for a while trying to start it on the one in a zillion
odds he did that.”
Things I used:
- A working Ford key with build in chip transponder that
starts the vehicle by itself.
- Cheap $1.50 hardware store copy that will unlock the doors
and allow you to spin and try and start the vehicle, but won’t let the vehicle
actually start (just a bunch of bells and blinking lights on the dash).
- 6 to 8 feet of thin wire that has rubber insulation on it
(so I don’t short out anything when tucking it in to the ignition
- Knife/wire stripper to remove insulation at both ends of
the wire.
- Two pieces of duct tape or electrical tape to hold the 10
loops around the real key together
- For kicks I soldered the ends together, but I could have
just twisted them together and taped it up.
The people at the hardware store were like “we can’t copy a car
key with a fancy chip in it…because our crappy $2 copy has no chip inside, it’s just
a key…BUT we can make a cheap copy that will still unlock your door in case you
lock your real key inside. That way you can keep the cheap copy in your wallet! It will also turn inside your ignition in case you want to unlock your steering column/wheels to get a tow truck ride.”
I was like, oh, OK I don't want to argue. Then I did this trick and it’s all good.
My car is 18 years old and I don’t have theft insurance on
it anymore (saving like $400 a year) so it’s all good. I’ve heard some car
companies won’t pay out if your car gets stolen because you left the key
inside. If that were the case I’d tuck the real Ford key way deeper into the interior somewhere deep, possibly using a longer wire…or I’d pop the
little rectangular hatch open on the real Ford key and slide out the chip,
which is tiny and even easier to conceal. Maybe even superglue that tiny chip onto the spinning part of the ignition so it's always there. Plus, it’s not a “key” left in the
ignition either way. I dunno.
TO the left is my real, from the factory Ford key with the chip transponder in it. The wire is wrapped 10 times around it and the wraps are held in place with some black electricians tape.
The bare ends of the wire are just twisted together. The wire is now in a "loop" with no breaks in it.
To the right is the part I just wrap twice around the spinning ignition thingy that you turn to start the car. Just two or three loops around.
In the center is the tiny, light, thin $1.50 cheap fake copy key. It has no chip inside of it. Normally it will only unlock my doors and it will also try to start my engine but fails because the antitheft kicks in.
Wrap, wrap around the ignition; tuck the real key into the upper dash (or let it hang loose). Good to start!
My next project might be to remove the transponder chip from the real key and superglue it to the turning part of the ignition. No wires.
