There’s a wide variety of car keys that we commonly deal with in out capacity as professional automotive locksmiths. Here’s a brief guide to the types of car keys most commonly available today, as prepared by the experts at Chicago Locksmiths.
Wafer Keys
These keys are designed to open wafer locks and have grooves on the upper and lower parts of the blade. These double serrations are made so the key can be inserted in two ways, so the biting on both halves of the blade can move some wafers up and some wafers down. These locks are similar to normal pin tumbler locks. The wafers are spring loaded and the pins are raised to a height proportional with the wafers. The longer the wafer the deeper the lock groove, and vice versa. These locks do not’ offer fantastic security since there are many tools like Marshal keys, wave keys, and kiggle keys that can be used to open up the lock. Wafer keys can be upgraded with transponder chips that prevent thieves from being able to turn on the ignition of your car.
Slider Keys
These keys, not to be obvious, move sliders. They have a serpentine path cut into both sides of the blade, which, similar to as with wafer keys, can be inserted in two ways, and similar as raise or lower aspects of the lock. The sliders correspond to the path of the key’s cut, raising it to precise height. However, different from wafer locks, slider locks have multiple gates – with a single gate, the deepest one, being the one necessary to allow the lock to turn, and many additional false gates being present in order to provide additional security functionality. These are the ideal keys for the majority of smart key systems, as they are commonly integrated with electronic fobs.
Transponder Keys
These use multiple key systems in conjunction, the traditional slider or wafer key which unlocks the doors, or trunk according to normal pin raising/lowering principals, and a transponder chip – which fuses the technology of a transmitter and a responder in order to provide a unique and custom electronic signal that allows the key ring wrapped around the ignition cylinder to turn on the car. This security system will prevent unauthorized attempts to turn your car on if a misprogrammed or blank key is used. If a transponder key is lost you will need to program a blank transponder key to fit your car’s specific needs, a process which the experts at Chicago Locksmiths can easily carry out.
Key Fobs
This term describes the electronic remote part of a key that can unlock doors, open trunks, or even turn on the ignition in push button cars. They key fob works as a security token that authenticates that you are the authorized user through either near field communication, infrared, or Bluetooth technology. Some cars will automatically unlock when the key fob approaches its vicinity – these keys are known as smart keys, which can turn on your car before you are inside it. Key fobs can either be housed inside the key itself, or located in a separate device.
