ONE key for 2002 Ranger!

you can have any locksmith make a door key but don't try use that in the ignition. find a local locksmith that makes transponder keys around here (Boise) it costs about $60 to have a transponder key made

No, but most folks just do this. Make some cheap copies then tape your one key under the steering column surround. As long as it is close to the ignition your copy keys will run the car. With only one key and no 'red' key you are pretty stuffed otherwise.

If it's anything like my 99 Grand Marquis, you need at least two working keys to program another one. Unless I'm missing something, it's up to the dealer to program the second one.

Who'd you buy it from? If you got it at a dealer insist on a second key. I got a free second key that way when I bought my 2000 Taurus.

If you got it from an individual, follow the other's advice.

A dealer is supposed to know better about how the keys work and give you the two required keys. They can't claim ignorance and make it stick, but you might have to make the General Manager or Owner waste an afternoon in Small Claims Court and a few minutes getting slapped around by the Judge to get that message across. ;-P

I strongly suggest that you bite the bullet and have a locksmith make you a few copies of the transponder key, then stick one of those 'master' keys in a bank safe-deposit box or a home safe along with the vehicle's Title Slip. Somewhere it won't get lost. Because if you lose that last key before getting a backup made, you're in a Heap O' Trouble.

No rules against calling around to local locksmiths and checking prices. There are several ways to lower the price a little: You drive there (don't make them come to you), you can take the steering column covers or the door panels apart in advance and put them back together when done (if needed) so the locksmith just has to do his thing and be done. Do it in the middle of the week when things are slow. Bring a Six-Pack of the locksmith's favorite beverage as a peace offering...

And if you tape the key inside the column you just made it blindingly simple to steal the car. They either punch the ignition lock and it starts (because you've disabled the system), or they figure out what you did and retrieve the key with a simple screwdriver.

(If the car is stolen and recovered, and their claims adjuster can't find any signs of forced entry, your insurance company is going to be very suspicious...)

Be very lucky it's a simple transponder key and not one of the more elaborate electronic key security systems that costs you between $1,000 - $2,000 (and a few days delay with the car out of service) to get rekeyed and the security computer reprogrammed.

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I must have missed the law that says every used car must be sold with two keys.

Nah, no law. It is a shitty business practice, though, and a SCC judge will take that into account. It wouldn't really be worth the bother regardless.

Who can say? I bought my Taurus when it was one year old from a Ford dealer as a program car. It came with one key. Once I realized I was missing a second key, I went back to the dealership and accosted the owner right there in his showroom. There was no argument... he just immediately instructed one of his minions to make a second key available to me at no charge.

Not a law anywhere AFAIK, just good business practices.

Even if the minions chose to ignore it, the Owner knew that you'd be in deep trouble with only one transponder key if it came up missing.

And he'd rather fix it now and make you happy than have you in there on a rampage later, after you had to get it towed in and they charge a small fortune to tear the car apart enough to figure out the transponder coding, get the key code off a lock cylinder, and make you new keys.

Because the three or four people in the showroom ready to buy new cars are going to hear the commotion when you hit the ceiling, get spooked, and bolt. And that will cost him a whole lot more than making you a second key.

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All true. I was nice about it until I knew whether or not he was going to be nice about it. And he was, so I stayed that way.

It's been my experience that ranting and raving on initial contact has unfortunate unintended consequences for the ranter. It motivates everybody to try to f*ck him. Better to be nice.

Except that the thieves know which vehicles have the transponder systems and unless the owner did something stupid like taping the key on the OUTSIDE of the column where it's clearly visible, the thieves aren't going to even bother attempting to steal it. Instead they will just go to the vehicle next to it that doesen't have a transponder and steal that one.

Ted

Or drag it up onto a flat bed.