[Dieselstation]

My friend showed me his car key for his corolla that sometimes works on other cars too. not every other corolla.. but probably 1 in 10 other cars he tried works. is this just a freaky key or is it more common then we think?

 

[sar4497]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Dieselstation)

1st gen Ford Probes. There are certain keys that seem to open nearly every early Probe. I had a friend who used to break into them (and he's no longer a friend).

 

[lacuna]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Dieselstation)

Naturally there can only be so many combinations of ridges and bumps on a key. One would assume that there could only be a couple thousand, maybe a hundred thousand key combinations. Now, that sounds like a lot, but for cars that were produced in the millions, some of the keys must be the same. I think anyways... this is all wild speculation.

 

[Ben.]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (lacuna)

The key to my '91 GTI fits my friend's '87 GLI

 

[Bixmen]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (vduBen)

my old pontiac, if you didn't bring the key all the way back to lock, you could start it without keys. the ignition was worn enough that you could take the key out while the engine was on.
the best was when some one was complaining about driving, you could just pull the key out and tell them to drive. scared the crap out of them!

 

[Obin Robinson]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Dieselstation)

the key for a 1979 Porsche 924; 1980 Porsche 924 Turbo; 1984 Porsche 944; 1986 VW GTI; and 1987 VW Scirocco 16V are nearly identical. we could have had one key for 5 cars.
reason i didn't:
i am paranoid that if one person copied one of my keys, they could steal all of my cars.
obin

 

[Spinne16v]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Obin Robinson)

I remember a few years ago there was an article in the paper about car thieves using "jiggle keys". I guess that many of the larger Japanese manufactures make their locks so sloppy that you can usually just take a worn down key from any Honda or something and jiggle it around in the lock of the target car and open the lock.
Unrelated, but the key from the front door of my old apartment opens the lock to the basement of my new house. The key itself isn't worn or anything.. It just seems that the locks have the same keying. As someone else said, I guess theres only so many possible combinations of pin depths in a lock...

 

[mitsu]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Spinne16v)

Back when I owned a lot of older (60's) American cars I was well aware that one old Chevy key would often work just as well as another.

 

[Row1Rich]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Dieselstation)

I was at a wedding a few years ago, walking back to my car, hit the unlock button on my remote (MK4) and the alarm goes off in the Explorer parked next to my car. Hit the lock button, it goes quite!

Needless to say, I had endless fun (about 30 mins) with the owner of the vehicle, setting off his alarm and then turning it off just when he got to it.

 

[DUTCHMANia]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Row1Rich)

both my mk2's can use the same key.....
and when i was walking true a parkinglot with my uncle he remote unlocked his passat, and also the Bora 3 cars down

 

[MartijnGizmo]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Row1Rich)

Quote, originally posted by Row1Rich »

I was at a wedding a few years ago, walking back to my car, hit the unlock button on my remote (MK4) and the alarm goes off in the Explorer parked next to my car. Hit the lock button, it goes quite! Needless to say, I had endless fun (about 30 mins) with the owner of the vehicle, setting off his alarm and then turning it off just when he got to it.

Hahaha, you should've had a camera with you.....

 

[Jettavr666]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (MartijnGizmo)

As a few have stated theres only so many key combinations you can use, which is why many cars, (BMW, audi, mercedes, vw, Jaguar, newer hondas, acuras, etc) are switching to center cut keys, and other designs. there harder to copy, and you can have more variations to them.
My old ford probe key opened up many other ford cars.
My friends old saturn could be started with any key, or a coin for that matter.
The keyfob for my probe also had the uncanny ability to work on many other cars, guess they used less codes in 93.

 

[Taimar2]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Jettavr666)

Although I've never tried, I'm certain that the keys to my '79 Impala will open and possibly start some other GM car of that vintage.
When you're churning out millions of cars a year, all of them with the same kinds of keys, then you're bound to get combinations that are close enough together for the keys to work in other cars. At that time, GM was selling close to 600,000 Impala/Caprices a year, and that's just one product line. The A and the B key were used in all US cars from GM at that time - and in fact I saw A and B keys in cars as late as 1997 and as early as 1969.

 

[landrumdh]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Dieselstation)

My dad's old caravan remote opened another caravan that looked JUST like his. He got in it and was about to try and start it when he relized it wasn't his van.
My friends Labarron has 2 keys (1 for door, 1 for ignition). Her door key worked on another labarron at work that looked just the same, she also relized the screwup before trying to start the car.

 

[devilether96]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (landrumdh)

I started a thread like this a long while ago
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=835329

My friends both had late 80's Camry's and in senior year of HS would steal eachother's cars all the time. If they saw the car at the mall they'd move it. Fun stuff when you're 17 years old

 

[F1_Fan]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (Dieselstation)

Quote, originally posted by Dieselstation »

My friend showed me his car key for his corolla that sometimes works on other cars too. not every other corolla.. but probably 1 in 10 other cars he tried works. is this just a freaky key or is it more common then we think?

There was a model year (or more) of Toyotas where they only made 10 key combinations. I was talking to a police officer in the late 80's and he was telling me they would occasionally arrest someone (possession of break-in tools) if they had multiple Toyota keys in their pocket.

 

[retro_rocket]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (sar4497)

Quote, originally posted by sar4497 »

1st gen Ford Probes. There are certain keys that seem to open nearly every early Probe. I had a friend who used to break into them (and he's no longer a friend).

The "Panic" button on the keyless entry remote for my 2nd-gen Probe sets off other alarms as well, once I pressed it and it set off the Probe, a Chevy Blazer, and my friend's 300ZX (and it wasn't the noise of each one setting the next one off, they all started going off at the exact same time).

 

[F1_Fan]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (03kpa)

Hands up... who else hits the unlock button on the remote when you walk by a car of the same type?
I haven't managed to unlock another Mk.IV yet.

 

[iiznoodles]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (F1_Fan)

when i went to the car show in NYC 2 years ago, i tried to unlock the other VW's there, but the key only went in and didnt turn it....also hit the lock and unlock buttons but with no success of setting off the alarms

 

[slugman]

Re: Does your key work on other cars? (iiznoodles)

My 83 sentra could be opened and started by the same type (might have been a year newer) of car owned by a friend back in high school in the mid 90's, both baby blue color too... cause that had an effect. It was endless fun to come out of a movie and find your car has wandered to the back of the lot, but luckily they weren't as evil as they could have been... or as I would have been if my key worked in their car. Odd that it was only a one way thing.
-slug