BMW Locksmith in Atlanta, GA: Keys and Remotes Programmed Beside the Car

As a mobile BMW and MINI locksmith for Metro Atlanta, GA, 4Keys Locksmith is dispatched from Brookhaven around the clock: insured by The Hartford, NASTF VSP authorized and ALOA-trained, and on file as 4Keys Locksmith LLC with the Georgia Secretary of State.

Keys and remotes are cut and programmed in the driveway, the garage or the deck where the BMW stands, because 4Keys runs vans instead of a counter (mobile, with no shop). The van comes from Brookhaven, and your arrival estimate comes on the call. The price is quoted by phone before anyone is sent, including the surcharge for calls between 9 PM and 7 AM local time, and on Sundays and federal holidays, and published reference rates are on the pricing page. Both English and Spanish are spoken on the phones.

BMW is one of six origins the van works on, along with American, Japanese, Korean, British and Italian makes and the other German brands. That includes keys for modern cars, from the CAS4 key of an F10 to the FEM and BDC smart keys of the F30 and G30. On every European make the same question comes first: which module holds the key data, and what does the manufacturer let a NASTF VSP locksmith reach. On a BMW, 4Keys programs the key with VVDI2 key-programming equipment, using original (OEM) BMW keys, and with the training behind its ALOA training; luxury key programming describes the service across brands, and the Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen and Land Rover pages cover their own systems.

The module is only half the story; the encryption inside it is the other half. Xhorse's VVDI BMW manual, a tool maker's document, names the CAS generations CAS1, CAS2, CAS3, CAS3+ and CAS4, and separates an encrypted CAS3+ (written CAS3++) with an ISTAP subtype. On the encrypted versions the engine computer, the DME, verifies the key too, through a code the trade calls the ISN. Adding a key to an encrypted CAS3+ therefore takes a working key or that ISN, and an encrypted CAS4 with every key lost brings the engine computer's data into the job. That is why the dispatcher asks how many working keys you have before giving a time for the visit.

The electric steering lock adds a step on CAS cars. The same manual warns that adding a key on CAS1 to CAS3 can leave an ELV error or a no-start until the modules are synchronized, DME to CAS and then CAS to ELV, and that synchronization belongs to the key job. Early E90 and E60 builds also have a BMW bulletin of their own about an ELV that will not release, answered in the questions below.

BMW gives owners no programming procedure of their own. The 2016 3 Series owner's manual says the car leaves the factory with two remote controls, each with an integrated key for the driver's door and the glove compartment, that new remotes come from the service center and that lost ones can be disabled there; BMW USA's replacement-key answer is to contact a BMW center. A key vendor puts it plainly: in general, newer replacement remote keys have no onboard programming procedure. 4Keys Locksmith programs them in the driveway or the deck, with the programming equipment the van carries.

Two bulletins mark where the dealer's own channel takes over or where a new key can misbehave. SIB B61 11 18 says a replaced FEM on the F22, F30, F32, F87 and related chassis must be programmed in an online IRAP session requested from BMW of North America Technical Service, a dealer procedure for module replacement rather than for adding a key. And SIB B66 16 18 covers G30s built between July 1, 2015 and April 30, 2018 with a factory I-level below 18-03: after a new replacement remote is taught in, Comfort Access and Passive Go stop working and the engine starts only with the key held at the steering-column ring antenna. BMW's fix is a complete new key set with a new BDC, so on a G30 the dispatcher asks for the build date before quoting a single remote.

The same Brookhaven dispatch reaches intown neighborhoods and suburbs alike. Georgia pages for Midtown Atlanta, Virginia-Highland, Inman Park, Old Fourth Ward and Grant Park show part of the area, and every other Metro Atlanta address is covered too.

A BMW gets its key wherever it sits: parked at the curb, in a condo or apartment garage, in a driveway, or on a workplace lot. In a garage with a gate or a key card, give the access details on the call; at the curb, name the nearest cross street and which side you are on. Any documents the case needs are named during that call, and the technician who phones you back may want a picture of the key or the dashboard.

The van carries lock hardware as well as key equipment. At home it opens locked doors, rekeys cylinders, fits new locks, deadbolts and smart locks (home lock service; in Georgia, house locks across the metro). At work it rekeys after staff leave and sets up master keys, access control, panic bars and storefront locks (business lock service; in Georgia, locks for Atlanta businesses).