Some customers really don’t want a Subaru transponder key immobiliser system, but there is no reason to to be afraid of them – usually that’d because they don’t know much about them, and imagine they are an unnecessary complication or a liability. They are incredibly reliable and very easy to use in VW conversions as long as the installer doesn’t do anything silly with them. Here in the UK we got them from MY96 in some models, and in all by about MY99, thanks to the very high level of ‘joyriding’ (stealing typically higher powered cars with minimal security for fun) here in the ’90’s. All the manufacturers of higher powered cars had to increase their security, otherwise owners couldn’t get insurance. Some other markets didn’t get transponder key immobilisers until much later, for example. US spec models didn’t get them until around MY05.
The only time customers ever have problems with the transponder key immobiliser systems is either when they have ended up with a mismatched or incomplete set of hardware, something got damaged, or they want additional transponder chips (assuming they have installed their immobiliser system in a way which will work). Fixing all of these is only possible with specialist tools which few people have – either Subaru dealership tools and / or specialist automotive locksmith tools. In part, this is because once all the hardware is programmed to work together, many parts of it become a matched set, and re-matching most mismatched parts of that set require the dealership level tools
We have all of the necessary tools to re-match either new or used components. Note some of the RFID transponder chips are ‘one time use only’, so cannot be reprogrammed later to work in a different system if you don’t have the immobiliser ECU that they’re matched with. This means if you have no key / transponder chip with certain immobiliser systems, but all the other parts are still a matching set, you cannot use a 2nd hand transponder key to fix that. We stock new transponder chips for all of the immobiliser systems, and can also clone some types (but not all). Cloning a transponder chip could be used, for example if you have one key but want more, but don’t want to send or bring your engine management system to us.
For much more information on the Subaru transponder key immobiliser systems, see Subaru Transponder Key Immobilisers