Okay, so I just bought a rebuilt 2010 Focus SE w/5-spd (7,000 miles). It has the "My Key" option, but the "Admin Key" was not included with the single key when purchased. I am unable to locate the original owner, but he/she set the speed limit to 80. Those of you familiar with this system know you get a "ding-ding" when passing through 75 and once again at 80, the max speed allowed when set.

Interestingly none of the dealers in San Diego seem to know anything about the My Key option and one even told me it's not available on the Focus.

I have a spare key I purchased that will need to be programed, but is the "Admin Key" a special key other than the standard separate key fob/key that one normally thinks of when using their keys? Or is the "Admin Key" the integrated key fob/key that is available also. I hope not as this key (from the dealer) is $170 -- not programmed or cut. Ouch.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks. BTW, it's a nice driver and great on economy at around 40MPG. Love it so far, but the ding-ding-ding is driving me crazy.

First off, [welcome]

I'd say right now the dealership is just as much of a problem! A few of us have had problems with dealerships and, quite frankly, they are not the same as much as Ford wants them to be.

I have heard of the MyKey, and what is most likely required is having the car re-keyed. It will involve you proving that you own the vehicle (driver's license matching the registration card), and it may cost $100 or so to have new keys and what not reprogrammed. The only way around this is to track down the previous owner, but if they have a key to the car you may want to get the keys changed anyways in case they can get into your car with that key...but if they are nice they may contact that person and get the key from them.

Good luck!

There is no special key, it’s just the programming inside. they have My Key trust me, a week after i bought my car I accidently set the My Key and my other key was in Ohio ( I was in Missouri). I just took the car to the local dealership, asked them if they knew anything about it. The first dude didn't so he got someone else, who told me that they can reset it. I handed him the key and went to get a burger across the street came back a lil later, my key was gone and i could drive like i wanted. I didn’t have to pay or anything. Sorry your dealers suck.

Sent using Telekinesis

Went to the dealer with a new key and fob I had purchased on line last week. I was wrong in what I though about the key(s)/ECU.

I thought there were 8 "slots" available in the ECU for new keys and one of those "slots" would be reserved for an admin key. The others would be used for My Key(s). That was wrong. Still think that the way Ford should have done it.

After some fiddling by the dealer (and discussions with the only service guy with knowledge of the My Key system) this is what I have learned.

- Any key can act as an Admin Key. In fact both of my keys are now Admin Keys. The special $170 integrated fob/key is not required.
- An Admin Key can be converted to a My Key by cycling through the various options using the buttons in the center stack. The next timeyou start the car that key becomes a My Key. Once the My Key option is selected and the various possibilities (speed/audio volume/miles traveled/etc) selected, that Admin Key loses its ability to further alter those settings or go back to being an Admin Key. The other Admin Key must be used to clear the settings so the My Key once again becomes an Admin Key.
- If you program all your Admin Keys as My Keys and want to change those settings back to an Admin Key, well, you are SOL and have to go back to the dealer to "unscrew" it. This may not be true with the Ford supplied Admin Key but since I do not have that key can't comment on it, but it is certainly true with the two keys I have.

The programmers at Ford may have been limited in exactly what they could do because of preexisting programming w/in the ECU, but to tell the truth, the entire My Key system leaves me wondering exactly what were they thinking. Having a key that limits specific functions is a good one, but in this case the execution is embarrassingly poor, but I'm sure it all makes perfect sense to Ford's programmers. To the rest of us, well...not so much.

I feel your pain...I worked in an IT department for 6 years :)

Glad you got it figgered out, though