Beware of the so called GM factory security systems or immobilizers, they hide behind many different names given by the auto industry to make them look more effective and advanced.
It’s not clear today whether those systems were really born with the innocent idea of preventing theft, or instead with the untold target of making money circulating faster. They systematically end up killing cars and often forcing their legitimate owners to give up their hopes and junk them just for that only reason. And it’s happening by the thousands… Every month!
VATS, PassKey, PassLock, Transponder, PK3 … and many others are the names they are given. They look all different, but they are not – they are based on the same simple principle that is way too easy for a security system. And all of them kill your car after she reaches the age of 7. And another thing in common they have: your dealer will ask you $1,000+ to fix them (so they can eventually break again…).
So why should you go to the dealer and not buy aftermarket or go to a small shop with a better price? It’s because those are “security systems” remember? And as such they can be treated only by authorized dealers…
So then, the luckiest of you might still think: “well, my car is worth much more than 1000$, I’ll go the GM dealer and just fix this Passkey system”… Not that easy! Do you know the greatest aspirations of any car maker in the world? Selling you a new car. And guess what? Most of those security systems have been discontinued by GM and cannot be fixed nor replaced.
What a strange combination of events…
And your car is still dead and will NEVER start anymore till you fix that darn thing that you cannot fix. So what do you do? You junk it. Then take a loan and buy another one for the joy of the dealer I mentioned above.
Get rid of those GM anti-theft systems! …Seriously! Bypass and remove GM VATS PassKey and PassLock systems even if you still don’t have problems with them. If your car is more than 6 years old, it is only a matter of time before the worst happens – and the problem is that you never know when it’s going to happen… and where! And it’s just too hard when it hits!
Here is my story:
How I removed VATS/PassKEY from my Buick
And this is how to disable security and save your car:
The VATS/PassKEY/Passlock FULL Bypass