Can a key open the doors even if it doesn't have a transponder chip on it? I want an inexpensive backup key for my wallet and was wondering if I can get a key that will open the door but not start the engine.
Yes -- The door lock is mechanical -- no computer widgetry required to turn the lock cylinder.
Won't set off an alarm or anything then?
Would have to be one weird alarm system. I've got a transponder key (different make of vehicle) and got a "regular" key for a backup like what you want. Right off I opened the door with it and then tried to start the vehicle. Curiously, the engine started, but shut itself down after a couple of seconds and wouldn't re-start until I used the transponder key. Seeing as how I have *never* hear even a whisper about any manufacturer tying in the transponder key to the door locks, please post if you find anything different...
The reason it ran for a few seconds for you and then quit is that the PassKey system generally disables the fuel pump when the alarm goes off. So you just used up what fuel was in the lines and then there weren't no more until you used the transponder key and thus reactivated the fuel pump.
Tom S.
Cool. But that just adds weight to my believing that a non-transponder key (cut the same) would operate the (mechanical) door lock. The only thing even remotely "electronic" on a door lock is the electric lock opener/closer, and that's just a dumb solenoid operating a mechanical link.
It's not quite that "dumb"... my Silverado has a switch on the lock mechanism so that the system knows whether the key was used to open the door; or if somebody reached in through the (perhaps broken) window and unlocked it from the inside.
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