Autel's Comprehensive Approach to Immobilizer and Key Programming

Vehicle keys have come a long way from simple metal blades. Automakers have transformed the once simple tumbler turner into a highly sophisticated mix of multi-functional key FOBs, smart keys, and app-based digital keys to increase vehicle security and driver convenience.

Today's automotive locksmith needs to be a blend of a computer geek, an electronics expert, and a vehicle diagnostician. Autel recognized these challenges and developed the MaxiIM608Pro II, a comprehensive diagnostic and key and immobilizer programming solution to enable those professionals to perform diagnostics and security tasks on an industry-leading number of U.S., Asian, and European vehicles.

As a diagnostic tablet, the IM608Pro II is surpassed by only the Autel flagship, the MaxiSYS Ultra tablet, in its diagnostic and service capabilities. The IM608Pro II is an all-systems scan tool that can read and clear codes, view Freeze Frame data, and View and Graph Live Data. Its advanced features include bi-directional functions such as  Active Tests and Special Functions, Coding, and Adaptations.

Perhaps only the professional would understand that the ability to "make" keys on vehicles produced within the last five years or more requires an advanced scan tool to diagnose and repair faults in supporting components and sensors, often including the instrument cluster, body control, and transmission control modules, before performing key and immobilizer tasks. Keith Perkins, who runs Level 1 Automotive, a repair shop  ("from brakes & engines to diagnostics and programming") while also being a licensed locksmith, a NASTF-certified Vehicle Security Professional (VSP),  and a trainer, said a common misconception about vehicles locksmiths is "we wear khakis and don't get dirty."

As for the job's complexity today, Perkins said, "The amount of reading comprehension required is truly misunderstood." Considering the complexity of today's systems, let's take a quick look at the advances that got us here.

In the 1990s, when automakers made standard the use of the transponder-chipped key, the vehicle key saw a significant advance from a simple ignition control device to its first step as a digital access system. Before then, Ford's introduction of the double-sided key in the 1960s was the most recent technological advance in key development since Chrysler invented the ignition key in 1949. Certainly, the vehicle key underwent numerous cosmetic and style innovations in the interim. The first automaker to introduce this key type was GM with the 1985 Corvette.

The transponder chip that was added into the key's plastic head of the standard metal key was programmed with a unique code. The transponder emits a signal to the antenna or sensor (induction coil) around the ignition. Simply put, if the key code matches the one stored (programmed) with the vehicle immobilizer, the ignition starts. Implementing this antitheft system reduced vehicle theft by 40 percent between 1995 and 2008. Subsequent versions of the system use rolling or hopping codes and/or encryption to send a different code between the key and Immobilizer each time the vehicle is started.

Keyless entry/ignition was the next system advance to gain popularity. According to Edmunds.com, more than 90% of today's vehicles offer keyless entry/ignition as an option. While the security operations behind the keyless ignition system are essentially the same, keyless vehicle systems require several additional support modules and components. For instance, Volkswagen's Passat features a "comfort control unit" that controls the Immobilizer, the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) and the central locking system. There are also proximity, capacitive (touch) sensors and antennas in the front door handles, the parcel shelf, and trunk.

The next innovation, cell phone app-based access, was first introduced by GM in 2010 as a new feature of its OnStar application. Today, app-based products or digital keys are wildly popular and have gone beyond lock, unlock, and remote start capabilities, now offering the ability to control cabin temperature and even create and share customized digital keys. These "keys' use a variety of technologies to work. The architecture of the digital key regulated under the standards of the Connectivity Consortium (CCC), an organization of automakers, cell phone, and consumer electronics companies, uses "open state-of-the-art public key protocols, hardware-based key storage, and radio standards" to access and execute functions on the vehicle. 

Whatever the form today's key takes, the technological concept remains the same: a signal is sent to the vehicle security system, and it must be recognized and authenticated before the Immobilizer and the ECU take action. The complexity is within the security protocols surrounding this task. How complex depends on the automaker.

So when Autel developed its Immobilizer and key programming tools, it produced tools offering extensive and ever-growing vehicle and system coverage, a simple, task-based interface. Perkins, who uses several Autel tablets at his shop, said of the brand, "We have had very good support from Autel; most vendors we work with carry and support them, and Autel is always on the cutting edge of what we need."

Today, Autel is on its second generation of security tools and has also expanded the product line to include a family of universal programmable Smart Keys dubbed the IKey. Autel sells about 40 IKey models, programmed to be compatible with more than 3,000 vehicle models. There are three IKey types: basic, premium, and razor. The premium and razor IKeys are styled as OE lookalikes. The IKey is programmable with the Autel IM608, MaxiIM508 and MaxiIM KM100 tablets. Perkins says his shop stocks them for "some of [its] value-driven commercial customers."

The MaxiIM508S is an all-systems diagnostic and all-service Android-based touchscreen tablet, able to program keys and immobilizers on domestic and Asian vehicles. The seven-inch tablet offers Key Learning, Remote Control Learning, and Key and Remote Control Adding, and numerous IMMO capabilities. The tablet includes the XP200 key and chip programmer.

While the IM508S holds its worth with any of its competitors, it is the IM608PROII  (bundled in North America with the  IMKPA Key Programming Adapter Kit, a set of adapters that expands on the tablet's Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi capability) that offers the most extensive coverage and functionality, especially when it comes to European vehicles.

The efficiency of the IM608Pro II cannot be overstated as it enables key learning directly through the OBDII port for 85 percent of vehicles in North America. The tablet can read the immobilizer pins and password directly from the vehicle and store this information to use later when learning the newly programmed keys to the vehicle.

The IM608Pro includes a wireless JVCI J2534 pass-through programming device for vehicle module programming and the XP400 Pro key and chip programmer to read/write and learn vehicle keys. The XP400 Pro enables the programming of infrared keys for Mercedes vehicles and IC Chip keys on some of the new Hyundai Kia vehicles. The XP400 Pro also performs EEPROM data functions needed for European vehicles.

What the key will look like or do in the future—well, that's anyone's guess. But as it has done throughout the key's evolution, Autel will continue to support the very special type of professional who calls himself an automotive locksmith.