My son bought a 2004 Ford Taurus a few months ago (his 1st car). It came with 1 chipped key and 1 non-chipped key the previous owner had made (in case he locked himself out I guess). Anyway last week his father managed to lose the chipped key and of course being a teenager, son had not gotten around to having a spare made. Spent 2 days looking for the stupid key! We have called the Ford dealer and was told they do not keep the data for older cars and can not help us, said try a locksmith. Called the locksmith and they also car too old can’t help. Was told to try the Ace Hardware store in the next town so called them, they said they can hook their machine up to the car to read the code and make a key for $80. They also said that this doesn’t always work but that if the key did not work they would not charge us. Today the guys loaded up the car and hauled it over there. They just called and told me it did not work.
SO… any suggestions on what we can do? DO we need to buy a new ignition cylinder with a key, or transponder or, or , or I don’t know. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.!
My Dad had a 2003 Taurus that he gave to my daughter. It had been sitting for a few months with a dead battery and it did not recognize the chipped key when I tried to start it.
Eventually I had to have a locksmith come out and reprogram the original key and to cut a spare one. The total bill was around $350 to $400. This was a few years ago. I suggest calling a few locksmiths and explaining your situation.
made me go look for my 2nd key for my 06 taurus. i got car last fall and it has 2 chipped keys. 1 was in the owners manual. which was in the glovebox. key is now in house in “important” stuff drawer.
I second @edb1961 idea above. I expect there’s a locksmith somewhere who knows a solution for this. It’s just a matter of finding a Ford knowledgeable locksmith. It’s only a 2004 after all. Not that old. Another idea is to ask a dealership if they know of a locksmith who can help, or if they can solve it at their shop.
If you discover you have to replace the lock, I wonder if you could just switch to an ordinary key lock ignition switch? Ditch the key-fob and the electronics in other words and use a key in the normal way to start and run the car. If that’s possible, that’s the direction I’d take with this problem. There may be other parts of the car’s security system that won’t allow that however.