Odd Things Exist.

There are a lot of odd things in this world; books can and have been written about them. “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” was a very popular feature syndication in many newspapers across America. Two-headed snakes and a headless chicken, rivers that run from south to north, and strange gravitational anomalies are just a hint of many strange things across this country.

The U.S. Is North of Canada?

One oddity that always amused me was actually “man made,” sort of, and lies to the north of us: When traveling from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, to Detroit, Michigan, you must go north. Yes, north. Detroit is actually due north of Windsor.

I wouldn’t have believed it myself had I not actually made the crossing myself. In my younger days, as a cadet 3^rd class assigned to the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw for the summer, we docked on the Windsor side of the river (the south side), and on liberty made our way to liberty in the town of Detroit by going through the tunnel by car north to Detroit.

Canadian Vehicles Are Different from Their American Counterparts.

Canadians are different from their American counterparts. It is a different country and a different culture from what I have seen. Even their cars and trucks are different. Sometimes that affects what is used for key systems on those vehicles.

GMs Made for the Canadian Market Lack On-Board Key Programming.

One big difference that some find out the hard way is that GM vehicles made for the Canadian market do not have “on-board programming” of keys available for the vehicle. To add keys, one must go to a locksmith or a dealer in order to have keys programmed into a vehicle. It is a law, as I understand it.

The logic is that without on-board programming, no one can just come along with an old key and on-board program the key back into the car’s computer system. Theoretically there would be one less chance of someone stealing a car, but for Canadian GM owners, it’s quite a pain compared to American GM owners being able to on-board program their keys themselves.

The problem is that it is such a short distance across the border to the United States from Canada. Accordingly, many Canadian cars end up here, as well as many cars designated as American wind up in the Canadian provinces as second-hand vehicles. Some of the Canadian vehicles just will not program with American aftermarket key programmers because of the difference between the two systems.

The Proximity Key Systems on Some Ford F150s Are Different, If Made for Canada.

One of these Canadian vehicles that is still in the process of being sorted out in the aftermarket is the Ford F150 for the 2018-2019 model years.

There are a ton of these vehicles made for the Canadian market that are finding their way south to the United States (except in Detroit!). They have a distinctively different proximity key system than the American equivalent of the F150. The American version takes one type of proximity key that was introduced in 2015 and was used on up to 2019. This proximity key will not fit the Canadian version of the F150. It works on a system similar to that on the Ford Fusion, and the key is only used for 2018 and 2019 models. Confusing, huh?

The C Max Has 2 Different Versions of Proximity Keys.

One last example of different key systems for the same model: The C Max, which is more popular overseas in Europe, has two versions of proximity keys also. One is a 315 megahertz, and the other is 433 megahertz. The two are simply not interchangeable.

This type of confusion didn’t exist before transponder keys, but they’re here, and we must deal with whatever the car companies put out.

We Can Help You with Keys for Your Vehicle.

If you think you have one of these oddities and are needing keys made from scratch because you’ve lost all your keys or just need a duplicate key, give us a call at 618-466-9347, and we’ll try our best to help you sort out the best plan of action. It may mean a special order and waiting a couple of days, but we will do our best to make sure you have the right key for your system. Call us at 618-466-9347, and we’ll talk it over. I speak Western Canadian, if that helps!