I took the car to the local Ford dealer this afternoon. The tech did the key on-off 8 times and the door locks cycled. I noticed he was turning the key very fast, much faster than I did. The tach and speedo needles hardly moved. He told me I was probably turning it too slow, that 10 seconds is the maximum time. Once the locks cycled the tech press a button on each of the two factory IKT and then did the flip-key, all three worked fine.

 

So now PATS and the Key Fob functionality is all good to go? The eBay flip key works like a champ?

 

The flip-key works the ignition and the buttons work. The trunk button does require two pushes to open the trunk just like the IKT. So far I like the FK much better than the IKT. I attached my house keys to the FK with a small wire loop. Also, I feel the FK is easy to turn when starting the car since the housing is at a 90deg angle to the key blade. I did not get an old style FOB programmed today. The spare I thought I had, I did not have or could not find it. My son is thinking about getting one for his '07 TR GT now.

 

Does it feel OEM? Shipping from Taiwan makes me a little leary. The guy has great feedback though, and I found several other forums using his keys and everyone seemed to say positive things.

 

In days of ownership I don't have much history. The FK does appear to be a first class item. When one of the RKE buttons is pushed a small light glows showing the button is activated, nice touch. The fella, artiway on ebay, selling the FK has answered my emails with helpful ideas on what I needed to do. I would have no problem with ordering another FK from him.

 

Just curious, where did you go to get the key cut? Can you take it an ace hardware or did you take it to a locksmith? I am just wondering how are it would be to cut the key with the fob hanging on the back end of it...

 

On my 95 when I got custom keys ordered the dealer would cut them for free.

 

LOL, wow. I ordered one of those keyfobs from the same guy for my old mazda and it worked like a champ. But yeah, the programming procedure is the same on mazdas and fords, and if you don't do it quickly, it doesn't work at all. A lot of us ordered spare keys from the dealer precut but saved on the programming fees by doing it ourselves, just had to make sure you had 2 working keys in order to do the programming.

IIRC, you can have up to 8 keys that will start the car, but you can only have 3 or 4 keyless entry remotes programmed at a time.

 

I got the local locksmith to cut the key - he is closer than any place other than Lowes. The lady at Lowes had no clue how to cut it. Lowes has cut my PATS keys in the past. The locksmith charge me $5.00 to cut the FK: that is $2.50 per cut. I also had a non-PATS key cut for an emergency open the door key if I lock the FK in the car. That cost me $3.75. The young man at the locksmith took the keys and gave them back in about one minute.

The folks at the Ford dealer that did program the FK said it looks just like the Mazda keys.

 

My flip key arrived today from Taiwan. Very fast shipping considering I only ordered it 7 days ago. After work I went to the locksmith and paid $5 to get it cut. Once I got home I messed with the programming for probably 20 minutes. Thanks to RMS10 I knew I had to turn the key very fast in order to get into "programming" mode. Even with the knowledge from this thread it was a bit frustrating, but I did manage to get it programmed myself. As RMS10 said, you have to follow two set of instructions (even though the manual says one) to get the key fully programmed - PATS and RKE.

I'm very happy with the fit and finish of this key. It looks and feels OEM. The buttons don't feel cheap at all, they give a very good tactile response when pressed. When you press any of the buttons the plastic piece between lock/unlock lights up blue which is a nice touch. Obligatory eBay link.

I knew it was a worthy purchase when I showed my wife and she simply rolled her eyes. Mission accomplished.