a friend of mine had his keys and fobs stolen. is there any way that the computer can be changer so the resistance of the keys can be changed? and is it possible fr him to train the fob to the new resistance. he has contacted the dealer for new keys and they told him he could get new keys and fob but never mentioned that it would leave the vette vunerable to the guy who stole his keys at any time.
any help would be appreciated.

 

This may sound complicated, and I know this applies to the original Vats system. Not sure about the current one. You could find out the available resistor values in the keys, get a key with a lower resistance value and insert a resistor in the vats circuit to compensate for the difference. When the original key is placed in the ignition, it will no longer match. It damn sure beats buying a new computer.

 

There are two levels to the vehicle security system ....

Content Theft

A key fob transmits a "serial number" as part of a LOCK/UNLOCK command. Your friend needs to immediately purchase a new fob (or have the dealer lend a fob) and reprogram the car to only recognize the new fob .... not the old fob. Otherwise the bad guy can unlock the car and steal items within the vehicle without having to break a window or set off the alarm (horn and lights) .....

In addition, the driver's door lock needs to immediately be "rekeyed" by the dealer or a locksmith. The bad guy can otherwise also open the car and steal items from the interior simply using the key.

Vehicle Theft

The bad guy currently (obviously) has all that is needed to drive away with the car, they have a key that matches mechanically to the "tumblers" in the ignition lock and also has the correct VATS pellet resistance.

Since the legal owner will need to change the tumblers in the driver's door to prevent content theft ... they should also change the tumblers in the ignition switch to prevent the use of the stolen keys. That alone should be enough.

If the legal owner wants to go a step further, they could change the BCM so that it looks for a different VATS pellet resistance which would further prevent the threat of vehicle theft.

Bottom line

A PROFESSIONAL car thief doesn't need keys .... and hell the car would already be gone ....

An AMATEUR car thief can be defeated by changing the mechanical locks and reprogramming the car to recognize only a "new" key fob.