I just picked up an '07 Caliber SXT a couple weeks ago and thus far I'm extremely happy. Ran into an issue though when I took it into the local car audio place for a remote start.
I'm not very familiar with the security features in these newer ignitions, so here is how I understand it so far. Each key is electronic and mated to the ignition in the car. If the key isn't programmed to the car, the ECU won't allow it to start. With remote starters, the bypass box acts as an additional key and must be setup with the car.
So here is my issue. The installer said he was unable to get the bypass box programmed as an additional key after trying three different boxes. A plausible explanation he gave me is that the car can only have a finite number of keys programmed to it at any given time. So if I've got two, and there is hypothetically a maximum number of four that can be programmed, that means there is two other keys floating around for my car. This makes sense since my car was a fleet vehicle/rental/lease at one time. The agency probably kept spare keys for repo reasons.
So now I have to take my car back to the dealer (which just so happens to be almost an hour away) to have them clear any currently programmed keys out of my car's ignition and set the two I have back up.
Am I understanding this correctly?
