Types of Car Keys: How to Tell Which One You Have

The short answer

There are five main types of car keys on the road today: plain metal keys, chip keys, remote head keys, flip keys, and push-to-start smart keys. Most cars built since the late 1990s use a key with a chip inside, and the car will not start unless it recognizes that chip. The type decides how the key is made and what it costs. In Milwaukee a spare chip key starts at $69, a remote head key at $129, and a smart key at $159, cut and programmed at the car, and most take 15 to 60 minutes.

The quickest way to tell which one you have: look at how the car starts and what the key looks like. A start button on the dash means a smart key. A plastic head on a metal blade usually means a chip. Buttons on the head mean a remote head key.

Plain metal keys

A plain metal key is only a cut blade. It turns the lock and the ignition, and nothing in it talks to the car. Most cars from before the late 1990s use one, and many newer cars still have a plain metal key for the doors or the glove box. A copy is cut on a key machine and needs no programming.

Resistor keys on older GM cars

GM was early with key security. Its Vehicle Anti-Theft System, known as VATS, started on the Corvette in the mid-1980s. A VATS key carries a small resistor pellet in the blade, and the car checks its value before it lets the engine run. There were only 15 possible values, so a locksmith can find the right one with a tester. Later GM cars from the mid-1990s on moved the sensor into the ignition switch under a system called Passlock, and the key itself went back to plain metal.

Chip keys

A chip key, also called a transponder key, has a small chip in its plastic head. The chip has no battery. When the key turns in the ignition, a ring around the switch powers the chip with a radio signal, the chip answers with its code, and the car's computer compares that code with its list of known keys. If the code is not on the list, the car may crank but it will not run.

Ford brought its chip key system to its cars in 1996, and most automakers had chip keys across their lineups within a few years. On many Fords from 1998 on, the car's own procedure for adding a key needs two working keys. With one key or none, a programming tool connected to the car does the job.

A chip key needs two steps: cutting the blade and adding the chip to the car. Our page on transponder key programming explains the second step.

Remote head keys

A remote head key puts the lock and unlock buttons on the head of a chip key, so one piece does both jobs. Ford began using them around 2006, and many makes followed. The blade starts the car, the chip lets it run, and the remote part locks and unlocks the doors. Each part is programmed separately, so a key can start the car but not unlock the doors if only the chip was programmed.

Flip keys

A flip key folds its blade into the head, like a pocket knife, and flips it out with a button. GM began using flip keys around 2010. Inside, it is a remote head key with a chip: the folding blade only changes the shape. The hinge is the part that wears, and a broken hinge often means a new key.

High-security blades

Some keys have a blade with a wavy groove milled into the side instead of notches cut into the edge. Ford brought this kind of blade to its cars in 2009, and many makes use it now. The blade is cut in depth and width along its length, which takes a different cutting machine. These blades appear on chip keys, remote head keys, and the emergency blades inside smart keys.

Push-to-start smart keys

A smart key stays in your pocket. The car senses it nearby, unlocks the door when you touch the handle, and starts when you press the start button with your foot on the brake. Ford added its first smart keys in 2011, and today they are standard on many new cars. Almost every smart key hides a small emergency blade inside, for the day its battery dies.

When the battery in a smart key is weak, the car may say it cannot find the key. Most cars let you start the engine by holding the key fob against the start button or a marked spot on the steering column. The car's manual shows where.

Our page on push-to-start smart keys covers how we program them.

Phone keys

Some newer cars can use a phone app as a key. The phone key is added through the automaker's app and the owner's account, and the car still comes with at least one physical key or card. If the physical keys are lost, the car needs a new key made like any other smart key.