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keycloning
UNDERSTANDING CLONING –
AND HOW IT CAN WORK FOR YOU
MICHAEL HIMS is Project Manager at Birmingham-based Redwood
Touchclone Ltd, where he has spent the last four years leading the
research and development of Touchclone and reversing various
encryption protocols that the transponders use. In this article written
for The Locksmith journal, Michael uses his expert knowledge to clarify
many of the points often raised by our readers concerning cloning.
In the last issue of The
Locksmith journal, Nicky at
NW Keys produced a great
article comparing the various
types of key cloners on the
market and a basic FAQ
surrounding cloning.
This time, I want to take
a bit more in-depth look at
how cloning actually works,
and what it can mean for the
locksmith or shoe repairer
who has always been put off by
cloning.
Many who want to start as
auto locksmiths like to cut
their teeth on key cloning as
it is a relatively cheap area
of the market to get into. A
big percentage of this market
can also be covered with
the most basic hardware,
and the procedures are
largely independent of
vehicle manufacturers – all
factors that can get more
complicated when you get into
new vehicle key and remote
programming.
Background Knowledge
All auto locksmiths
will be fully proficient in
understanding how vehicle
security systems work, but for
those from a domestic and
commercial side there can be
an element of ‘black magic’
that I can hopefully expand
on here to help provide a clear
understanding.
Since 1996, in an attempt
to reduce vehicular theft,
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THE SEP/OCT 2014 ISSUE
SPONSORED BY ADVANCED KEYS
auto manufacturers started
including small computer
chips, called ‘transponders’
,
inside the key that
communicate with the vehicle
to allow it to switch off the
immobiliser. Importantly,
these transponders are
powered directly from the
vehicle itself, and are typically
hermetically sealed in either
epoxy or glass - making them
highly reliable and resistant
to environmental factors such
as temperature, shock and
humidity. The technology
worked so well that it resulted
in vehicular thefts plummeting
almost overnight.
While that may have
proved to be good news for
consumers, it also meant that
auto locksmiths had to upskill
in order to read, program,
write and understand how
these chips work, in order
to make up a new set of keys
for the customer. Getting
into cloning allows the
non-auto locksmith to start
understanding the range
of transponders available
and their applications on
vehicles.
How cloning works
Cloning car keys is very
much ‘does what it says on the
tin; it is taking the customer’s
original key, and copying the
data onto a new transponder
so that it is an identical match
to the original. The vehicle
cannot tell the difference
and so both keys are allowed
to start the engine. While it
sounds fairly straightforward,
different types of transponder
have different methods of
cloning them and will clone
onto either the same type of
transponder, or a new ‘cloning
type’ will be needed to accept
the data.
The pros and cons
around cloning
Some of the benefits to
cloning car keys are:
• Easy and quick – it is a
simple process of read,
remove, write (for certain
transponders) - it can
actually take longer to cut the
key blank!
• Cheap – from both a
customer and locksmith
perspective, you don’t need
lock picks or a wide range
of remotes, just a handful
of transponders, a cloning
device and the usual key
blanks and key machine.
• No changes to the vehicle
– whenever you plug in key
programming equipment
to the vehicle you can be
reading, writing and clearing
fault codes from all over the
vehicle and customers can
potentially blame you for
all sorts of weird technical
gremlins ‘that never
happened before you came
out!’
• Access – as
above, to clone
most transponders
you do not even need
the vehicle to be there so access to the shop is not
essential. You can be stuck
in the middle of a field at a
car boot sale and still clone
car keys!
Negatives:
• Lost key situations are a nogo for any cloning only auto
locksmiths as obviously you
have nothing to clone from.
• Remote options – there are
some options from Bianchi
that will allow you to clone
remot