Will the 500e go into neutral with an unprogrammed key?

[Sandy]

Hi guys

I am wondering if this would work, so I plan to get a key cut at the dealership. Then, I want to put the car in neutral and transport it to the dealership for programming. Will the 500e go into neutral with an unprogrammed key?

 

[Capt Forest]

You can manually release the parking brake, but be cautious with the non-transponder key - you could totally mess up the BCM, especially if the alarm is activated.

 

[BrotherIron]

My buddy once told me that if you happen to misplace both of your programmed keys, you’re basically stuck swapping out the BCM and hunting down a fresh set of matching keys. Hopefully that’s not actually how it goes down!

 

[FearThaGear]

My buddy once told me that if you happen to misplace both of your programmed keys, you’re basically stuck swapping out the BCM and hunting down a fresh set of matching keys. Hopefully that’s not actually how it goes down!

I don’t think that’s right. From what I recall, when my mom lost her programmed key, she grabbed the VIN from her car and gave it to the dealer. They sent it off to Fiat, which created a new key specifically encoded for that vehicle.

 

[BrotherIron]

I don’t think that’s right. From what I recall, when my mom lost her programmed key, she grabbed the VIN from her car and gave it to the dealer. They sent it off to Fiat, which created a new key specifically encoded for that vehicle.

Totally get that! I’m not convinced you’d need to swap the BCM for that either. I’ve never really dealt with a lost key situation myself. My buddy mentioned it, but who knows where he picked that up? Sorry if that info's a bit off!