Kegcon108

Bought a 2010 a5 Cabriolet with one key fob. Did research, bought one online that matched and brought to dealer. He said he could not program because key fobs are vin specific? I didn't buy the car from the one dealer in town because they are slimy. Brought two key fobs in and both times dealer charged me and said the same thing! What is the truth? Thanks!

superswiss

Fobs essentially work on a two key principle. The first key is tied to your vehicle and as far as I know, only the factory and maybe Audi USA can make a new key fob for your vehicle. It's gonna require paperwork to establish that you are in fact the current owner of the car. This is why it is so expensive to replace a smart key.

The second key is regenerated every time you use your fob. Both fob and car are programmed such that they independently come up with the same next key or keys. It can happen that fob and car get out of sync for example if you accidentally activate the fob in your pocket too many times while not near your car for example. In that case the fobs and car need to be reprogrammed to get back in sync. This is what the dealer can do with their equipment. Normally the fob also resyncs when you put it into the ignition and follow a certain sequence.

Kegcon108

Thanks.. So the one I have as main key fob is sync to car vin. The second one I bought cannot be programmed because it did not originally get coded at audi with my car? The websites claim these keys can be programmed but I guess not

superswiss

The keys can be programmed, but not by the dealer. You can try contacting Audi USA.

Kegcon108

Will try! Thanks!

Lord Vader

Hey - I was searching the forum for the same issue. How did you make out with this? I want to purchase 2 keys for my S5, but not at the dealer price. Did you get the keys programmed? If so, how.

Kegcon108

I got nowhere. I was told the keyfobs is distinct for the car vin number and therefore the two I brought in could not be programmed. I think they just wanted my $300 for anew one.

Let me know if anyone else breaks through this line of bs..

Lord Vader

Thanks for the feedback. The old days of purchasing keys on E-Bay and programming them ourselves are long gone. I guess I'll cough up the dough to Audi. I guess I'm a bit annoyed. I'm certain there's a way to get keys programmed. Why else would people sell them on E-Bay and other sites. Just thinking logically.

smokeybreeze

BS. You can program you own keys and so can onyone with 30 seconds worth of access to your OBDII port.

Be careful as to who you have work on your car...

http://www.keyprogtools.com/index.ph...gramming-tools

Lord Vader

So - If I can find someone trustworthy with a VAG Commander, I can avoid the dealer raping me. Guess I'll start my search.