[JoeReal]

i bought and successfully reprogrammed a new FOB key without the presence of any working FOB. I didn't have to tow my car to the dealer for reprogramming,

i lost all of my fob keys so i couldn't use any. i was parked at a charging station when i lost my last fob key. pressed for time to move my volt after charging, i unplugged the car and left a note about my lost key and promised to move it asap.

so I called the original dealer, and they asked for a key code. alas that keycode is with the fobkey, so i was directed to one regional chevy dealer with a personnel who's authorized to look up keycodes based on vin#. So I brought my current volt registration and driver's license and they made the key for me. I also bought the transmitter. They told me to tow my car over so that they can reprogram it. I then showed them page 34-36 of the volt's owner manual that the reprogramming of the new transmitter can be done without the need to use of any working transmitter. they gave me my new fobkey and I promised to tow the car to them if i wasn't successful.

and so with the new fobkey, I went to my car in the charging station, reprogrammed it successfully and was able to move my car in less than 24 hours since I lost my last fobkey.

as for the details of the reprogramming, that's a completely different story! let's say because of my impatience in waiting for three of 10 minute cycle, I always reset it to the beginning, so instead of 30 minute reprogramming as indicated in the manual, it took me 2 hours, including trials and frustrations.

I will post a follow up later on the pitfalls of following the instructions in the manual and what it doesn't tell you. As an example, when I opened the car with the new key, alarm went off but I was glad i was able to turn it off with an app.

 

[Qinsp]

From 15(?) years ago:

When you do the Emergency Relearn (this is what the Fob is doing), you must wait for the Security Icon to come on. It will come on (turn off?) EXACTLY 10m00.0s later. You have a short time to start the next the cycle. 10 or 30 seconds? I forget.
seconds to start the next step. It used to be 3 cycles.

I've done it dozens of times on GM products, but never a Volt.

We used it to replace ECMs without a Tech II dealer tool.

 

[Upper5Percent]

Congrats...just realize there are still two key fobs out there that can unlock your car...

 

[JoeReal]

Congrats...just realize there are still two key fobs out there that can unlock your car...

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! GM Engineers are also very smart!!! After you did step 3 in the instruction, ALL THE PREVIOUS FOB transmitters will no longer work on the car!

 

[Upper5Percent]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! GM Engineers are also very smart!!! After you did step 3 in the instruction, ALL THE PREVIOUS FOB transmitters will no longer work on the car!

The Metal Key in those lost fobs can still open your door unless you were to replace the actual driverside door lock...so if you continue to park where you lost your key...don't leave valuables in the car while you are jogging...

 

[timoshev]

This time, save/record the new key code.

 

[Stockholm Volt]

Where is the key code printed? (I'm too lazy to go get the key fob.)

 

[Sean Nelson]

i bought and successfully reprogrammed a new FOB key without the presence of any working FOB. I didn't have to tow my car to the dealer for reprogramming...

Wow, I'm glad you were able to solve this problem! And thanks for posting what you had to do - I'm going to bookmark this so that I know what to do if I ever encounter the same situation, or if someone else posts a question about the issue.

 

[JoeReal]

The Metal Key in those lost fobs can still open your door unless you were to replace the actual driverside door lock...so if you continue to park where you lost your key...don't leave valuables in the car while you are jogging...

First, I'm sure I lost my first FOBkey somewhere in Australia. The last one in our neighborhood. There are many 2nd Gen Volt owners in our area, so they'll have to find the matching one first, and try the metal key on each one of them, and it involved prying open the tiny decor handle next to the main one, so it would be making them like a car thief, a very obvious thing that can be reported or taking picture of.

And if you have read my original post, the first mistake that I made was setting the alarm off with the new metal key that was made. It is because the metal key don't have a paired transmitter with the Volt. Fortunately I have the presence of mind to turn off the alarm using my registered app, and am sure whoever finds my old key won't have my registered Volt to disable the alarm.

So indeed the GM Engineers are smart!

But good advice always like you said, never to leave any valuables in your car, including the Volt.

 

[JoeReal]

Thanks to Qinsp for being the first one to point out the page in the manual about this!

 

[vtech]

Thanks for posting. What was the cost of your new key fob?

 

[freshcut]

If I may be so bold as to suggest, perhaps now would be a good idea to plan for a second key to keep in a safe location. I managed to buy a replacement transmitter off ebay since my previously owned Volt only came with one key. The cut portion isn't correct (cut for another car) but I reprogrammed the fob successfully. If nothing else, it will allow you to have a backup to reprogram new fobs later rather than having to go through the long "single fob" programming process.

 

[Loboc]

It'd be WAY easier to NOT lose the car keys in the first place.

 

[JoeReal]

Detailed steps including costs!

Here’s the directions for Programming without a Recognized Transmitter. My details follow, please read everything before attempting to do this!

Steps 1-3 of the owner's manual
Program a new key to the vehicle when a recognized key is not available. Follow this procedure to program up to eight transmitters. (Canadian regulations require that owners see their dealer). This procedure will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. The vehicle must be off and all transmitters to be programmed must be with you.

1. Remove the key lock cylinder cap on the driver door handle. See Door Locks page 39. Insert the vehicle key of the transmitter into the key lock cylinder on the outside of the driver door and turn the key to the unlock position five times within 10 seconds. The Driver Information Center(DIC) displays “REMOTE LEARN PENDING, PLEASE WAIT”.

2. Wait for 10 minutes until the DIC displays “PRESS START BUTTON TO LEARN” and then press POWER stack. The DIC display will again show “REMOTE LEARN PENDING, PLEASE WAIT”.

3. Repeat Step 2 two more times. After the third time, all previously known transmitters will no longer work with the vehicle. Remaining transmitters can be programmed during the next steps. The DIC display should now show READY FOR REMOTE #1


The more detailed steps 1-3 by Joe Real:

You're here, because like me, you lost both of your keyFOBs before you realized it and now you're Volt-less and no way to move your car. You would need to buy a new transmitter and have authorized Chevy to cut a new key (the one secretly stored inside the transmitter) for you.

Did you store the Z-Code attached to one of your keyfob's? You would use this code to tell your dealer to give you a metallic key. You would also need to show your ID and vehicle registration, and they'll whip one for you at about $65 a piece, not including the transmitter. Now, if you didn't wrote it down, like I did, your dealer would recommend you to a regional Chevy dealer with an authorized personnel that can lookup the key code for you based on the VIN# from your registration, but hell such a dealer will rip you off, they're going to charge you almost double than the dealer where you bought your Volt, and that's about $120 for cutting the key for you, unless of course your dealer has an authorized lookup personnel. You would also need a new transmitter that must be programmed for your Volt. Yeah, it sucks that the new transmitter will set you back another $130! But if you're not in a hurry, you can order a new 2017 Chevy Volt transmitter from eBay for about $55 ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/182583249560 ), unless you need to move the car now, so bite the bullet already!

At this point, the dealer who would cut the key would insist that you have to tow your vehicle for reprogramming your transmitter but then show them pages 34-37 of the 2017 Volt owner's manual showing the section and instruction posted above. If you tow the car to the dealer and have them reprogram it, you might get billed for a minimum of $110/hr reprogramming fee plus the cost of your towing. But having shown them that you're in the US, so you don't need to tow your vehicle for reprogramming as you can do it yourself, like Joe did.

So now, you have the key and the transmitter, nope, don't put them together just yet, and proceed to your car. Make sure not to unlock the car with your new key and if you did, the alarm will set off like crazy, attracting everyone's attention. Remember, your new transmitter isn't recognized yet and if the car is opened, the alarm will set off. So unlock your car with your myChevrolet app! Make sure not to precondition the car and that it is off.

Once the car is unlocked, do not open the driver's side door. Open all the other doors and the hatch back door, EXCEPT the driver's side door. The reasons is that you would be held up inside the car for 40 minutes or more and you need to breathe! Remember you can't roll down the windows yet nor have airconditioning as the car is off.

And of course, we finally have to open the driver's side door only by doing these steps:

Step 1. Remove the key lock culinder cap on the driver's door handle using your new metallic key. There is a detail on how to do this on page 39 of the owner's manual.
Insert the metallic key into the key hole, it should deeply go in. Now turn the key counterclockwise to the unlock position (it stops at about a quarter turn), then turn back. Make a total of 5 turns one second apart, not rapidly after one another, but complet the 5 turns within ten seconds.
Now open the door, hop in the driver's seat and close the door.
The Driver Information Center(DIC) should display “REMOTE LEARN PENDING, PLEASE WAIT” and if you don't see this, press the main Power Button of your car and you should see the message.
Never open the driver's door for the next 40 minutes or until the reprogramming is completed, otherwise, everything would be reset to the very beginning and you will start from Step 1 again.

Step 2. On your phone, set an alarm timer for exactly ten minutes and wait. That's why you should have opened all the other doors to have air, otherwise you're going to be cooked inside. After 10 minutes, the DIC should display “PRESS START BUTTON TO LEARN” and then press the main POWER button. Afterwards, the DIC display will again show “REMOTE LEARN PENDING, PLEASE WAIT”. (If after your phone alarm sets off and there's no display, press the main Power Button every ten seconds until it displayes the “PRESS START BUTTON TO LEARN” and then press the main POWER button.) and reset your phone's timer to ten minutes again.

Step 3. Repeat step 2, two more times, that is why it's going to take long. At no point in time should you open the driver's side door! You'll have to complete the whole or start from the very beginning and wasting a lot of time. Anyway, after the third time you did Step 2, all the existing transmitters are no longer paired with your Volt. The DIC should now show "READY FOR REMOTE #1"

then the rest of the steps are easy to follow as in the owner's manual.

Step 4. Remove the rubber mat in thecenter console storage area.

Step 5. Place the new transmitter into the transmitter pocket.
Step 6. Press and hold POWER two seconds. When thetransmitter is programmed, the DIC will show that it is ready to program the next transmitter.
Step 7. Remove the transmitter from the transmitter pocket and press unlock key on the transmitter. To program additional transmitters, repeat Steps 5
When all additional transmitters are programmed, press and hold POWER for 12 seconds to exit programming mode.
Step 8. Now put the metallic key inside the transmitter.


I hope this helps!

 

[Badgerflorida]

Thanks for posting this. We have two daughters that lose everything.

 

[onevoice]

But if you're not in a hurry, you can order a new 2017 Chevy Volt transmitter from eBay for about $55 ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/182583249560 ), unless you need to move the car now, so bite the bullet already!

I followed your advise and ordered a spare FOB with a blank key from ebay. I was able to link in this 3rd FOB to my 2017 Volt. Today, I took the Volt in for recall. While it was in, I decided to have the oil changed and tires rotated since it has been over a year since I had bought the car, even though I don't drive that much and it has under 5600 miles and over 45% oil life left. My service adviser informed me that I need to bring the car for the 2nd free service before the 2nd anniversary of when I bought the car, otherwise I would lose out on this 2nd free service.

I took my spare key ordered from ebay to the parts department, and gave the person my VIN number. He looked up the key code, and cut the key for me. I asked him how much for cutting the key, and he said "No charge!", which was good news. My service adviser informed me earlier that it would be $25 for cutting the key, so that was very nice. I really like this dealership, I had to take the car in for many recalls. Hopefully this will be my last recall, at least for this year.