Any reason to carry the key around?

[jejb]

My 18 2500 has remote start and door handles that lock and unlock the doors w/o a key. A key is "hidden" inside the remote control. That key works on the doors, Ramboxes and the factory bed divider. So I find myself wondering why I've left the big key on my key ring also. I rarely use it anyway.

So what say the cognoscenti? Waste of space on my key ring? Is there something that key does that the one in the remote does not?

 

[Sandevino]

You have two "keys" - the electronic key fob and the hard key that opens what you mentioned.

If you just carry the fob, you can do 99.9% of everything you need to do as the other locked areas can unlock / lock with the central locking system.

In the event of a dead battery or other electrical issue, the hard key will allow you to access the cab and ram boxes. Oddly enough (on mine) the tailgate as it's all electronic so the hard key won't do me any good to lower the tailgate.

 

[avantiguy]

If you throw your golf bag with your remote/key in the bag pocket in the bed with a tonneau cover and the tailgate locks, you'll wish you had a key on you. Bet you can guess how I know and I carry a key in my wallet.

 

[DURASPANK]

I put the big key in a magnetic key box and stuck it under the truck.

 

[jejb]

You have two "keys" - the electronic key fob and the hard key that opens what you mentioned.

If you just carry the fob, you can do 99.9% of everything you need to do as the other locked areas can unlock / lock with the central locking system.

In the event of a dead battery or other electrical issue, the hard key will allow you to access the cab and ram boxes. Oddly enough (on mine) the tailgate as it's all electronic so the hard key won't do me any good to lower the tailgate.

The remote has a hidden "hard key" in it. You just have to slide a latch and it comes out of the remote. As I said above, that key works on all of the locks.

 

[jejb]

If you throw your golf bag with your remote/key in the bag pocket in the bed with a tonneau cover and the tailgate locks, you'll wish you had a key on you. Bet you can guess how I know and I carry a key in my wallet.

LOL! But if the key is on a key ring with the remote, it would not help me in that scenario anyway.

 

[alpinegreenneon]

The key in the fob is useless if you somehow lock the fob in the vehicle. It would make more sense to have an all metal key made that you keep in your wallet. Use a Y157 blank.

 

[tron67j]

Too many adventures with remotes instead of keys. I made sure my current truck starts with a key. Makes sure there is no way to have my key anywhere else. Last time my wife walked off with them for 5 hours and I had no way to call. Instead of going for a nice lunch I sat in an idling vehicle. Not really helping you decide, other than to say that staying in control of all items that allow you access to your truck will help prevent problems.

 

[canadiankodiak700]

It seems everyone is missing your point. You have both key & fob on a ring, so if the fob is somehow placed in an inaccessible location, so would the physical key. Lol

To answer your question. Take the physical key off and leave it at home or work, or wife's vehicle, somewhere you can have it brought to you if you ever needed it. The key inside the fob will do everything that key will do except take up valuable space on the keyring.


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[16Ram4x4]

The one time you lock yourself out of your truck with your fob / key in it and you spend valuable time waiting on,
A. Your wife or family member to bring the spare fob / key
B. Waiting on a locksmith to come unlock your truck and paying dearly for it if it happens after normal service hours.
C. Waiting on a roadside service that can unlock your truck without breaking or tearing something up.

Or for total convenience just have a spare door key cut and have it on a keychain that you always carry in your pocket that way you avoid having to depend on any of the above scenarios.
It's your decision to carry a spare key or not and if the vehicle battery is dead your kinda screwed anyways.

 

[jejb]

It seems everyone is missing your point. You have both key & fob on a ring, so if the fob is somehow placed in an inaccessible location, so would the physical key. Lol

You are correct. Perhaps I didn't explain my question very well?

The key I'm talking about leaving at home is attached to my fob's keyring. If I lock it in the truck, lose it, etc, I'd lose both at the same time anyway. Leaving the key at home would make absolutely no difference in those scenarios. And since I have the hidden hard key in the fob, as long as I had the fob, I'd have all the functions of the hard key with me.

Knock on wood and all, but I've not lost my keys or locked myself out of a vehicle in like 30 years. I'm pretty careful about that kind of stuff. So that is not really a worry for me.

Hiding the big hard key somewhere underneath is something to consider. I can't start the truck with that, but still might not be a bad idea. Not really the point of my thread, but worth considering.

 

[PolarisCobra]

So - back in the day, like 20 years ago, when we didn't have electronic keys with batteries in them, we carried a key ring, with a key on it. Used it to open the door and to start the car. There was a second key for the trunk in most cases, so you carried two different ones.

But - I never carried a second set with me in case I lost the first set. The second set stayed on a hook at home, or depending on what I was driving at the time, on my wife's key ring. Why would you bother to carry two keys (one in each pocket??) now? Seems like overkill. I can see hiding one someplace on the truck, although I have never bothered to do that.

My truck came with two fobs, I carry one, leave the other at home. I don't have push button start, so I need to have the key in the switch to start it, which is fine with me. Anytime I have driven a car with keyless start, I spend too much time thinking about where the fob is. I'm not sure I am a fan of the whole push button start thing.

 

[pacofortacos]

Actually the physical key has come in handy many times on my pacifica - the key fob battery was going and acted up intermittently for months.
Many times I had to unlock the door with the physical key to get in to go - side note, even if the key fob isn't working correctly, if you hold it just an inch away from the start button (with push button start), the car will still start.

 

[corneileous]

My 18 2500 has remote start and door handles that lock and unlock the doors w/o a key. A key is "hidden" inside the remote control. That key works on the doors, Ramboxes and the factory bed divider. So I find myself wondering why I've left the big key on my key ring also. I rarely use it anyway.

So what say the cognoscenti? Waste of space on my key ring? Is there something that key does that the one in the remote does not?

I guess I’m confused but are you saying you took your hard key out of its slot in the fob and clipped it to your key ring?? If so, why not just leave it where it goes in case you need it?


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[corneileous]

You have two "keys" - the electronic key fob and the hard key that opens what you mentioned.

If you just carry the fob, you can do 99.9% of everything you need to do as the other locked areas can unlock / lock with the central locking system.

In the event of a dead battery or other electrical issue, the hard key will allow you to access the cab and ram boxes. Oddly enough (on mine) the tailgate as it's all electronic so the hard key won't do me any good to lower the tailgate.

Are you sure about the part about your tailgate? I guess I need to try it in mine but I’m almost a hundred percent positive that my hard key will open my tailgate if it’s locked even if the battery were to be dead or if the link to the electric lock to it was ever broken.


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[corneileous]

I put the big key in a magnetic key box and stuck it under the truck.

Why didn’t you just get you a spare key made?


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[Octane]

My locking tailgate opens with fob or a key

 

[turkeybird56]

I do not know on the 18's, MY 19 1500 has no key ref tailgate, all electronic. I had an extra key made and I ALWAYS carry on a small ring in my pocket with change. WHY, because U can lock yer FOB in truck, especially if running. Just piece of mind and no problems. As far as leaving FOB in vehicle always, maybe not the best choice. Because if the truck can sense yer FOB, will start, shift and drive away and U may not be behind the wheel. Yer choice.

 

[Jessica Smith]

A key is "hidden" inside the remote control. That key works on the doors, Ramboxes and the factory bed divider. So I find myself wondering why I've left the big key on my key ring also. I rarely use it anyway.

I took that off ages ago for the same reason, its a duplicate of the one already built in to the fob.

It was hilarious trying to explain to the Costco guy trying to access the locked bed of my truck that the key is released from the switch on the top of the fob until he finally brought it to me.

 

[jejb]

So - back in the day, like 20 years ago, when we didn't have electronic keys with batteries in them, we carried a key ring, with a key on it. Used it to open the door and to start the car. There was a second key for the trunk in most cases, so you carried two different ones.

But - I never carried a second set with me in case I lost the first set. The second set stayed on a hook at home, or depending on what I was driving at the time, on my wife's key ring. Why would you bother to carry two keys (one in each pocket??) now? Seems like overkill. I can see hiding one someplace on the truck, although I have never bothered to do that.

My truck came with two fobs, I carry one, leave the other at home. I don't have push button start, so I need to have the key in the switch to start it, which is fine with me. Anytime I have driven a car with keyless start, I spend too much time thinking about where the fob is. I'm not sure I am a fan of the whole push button start thing.

Mine also came with 2 fobs, and each came with the big hard key, in addition to the hidden hard key in the fob. The truck I came from to this one had a fob, but it was only lock/unlock and panic. So I still needed a hard key to start the truck. But our other, newer vehicles are keyless start and have, like my Ram, a fob with the hidden hard key. No big hard key was supplied. So it makes me wonder why Ram even bothered to include it, which is why I asked in the opening post if there is some function it serves that the hidden key does not. I guess I just assumed that since it was included, there must be some need for it. I've only had the truck for a few weeks.

But it seems the answer is that it's not needed.