Cut, programmed and tested at your car. Most models, most years.
See services & pricingWhere’s the car?
A credit-card-sized RFID card that unlocks and authorizes driving by being tapped against the door pillar or center console pad. It's the fallback key type Tesla ships with every car since it doesn't depend on a phone's battery or Bluetooth, but it has no cut edges or mechanical function at all — it's purely a proximity credential paired to the car through the touchscreen.
The default daily-driver method on all current models: the Tesla app on an owner's phone communicates with the car over Bluetooth to unlock doors and authorize drive. It requires the phone to have Bluetooth on and the app logged into the correct Tesla account — a phone with a dead battery or without the app simply won't work as a key at that moment.
A small button-style remote sold as an optional add-on for owners who want a physical backup beyond the card, most associated with Model S and Model X. It's paired the same way as a card or phone — through the car's touchscreen menu — and doesn't involve any cutting or transponder chip reading.
Early Model S and X used a chunkier fob shaped somewhat like a small car silhouette, with buttons for lock/unlock, still RF-based rather than a mechanical blade. Replacements for these older fobs can sometimes be harder to source than the current card/phone system, since Tesla has shifted newer production toward card and app-based access.
A plain metal blade, a transponder chip, a remote and a proximity fob are four different jobs.
Newer immobilizer generations take extra steps — and on the newest systems, extra authorization.
Copying a working key is the small version of the job; starting from zero keys is the big one.
Secure garages, gated lots and after-midnight calls can change the trip, never the honesty of the quote.
Tesla doesn't use a separate aftermarket-style immobilizer chip the way most gas cars do — authorization to drive is built into the car's own computer and RF/NFC pairing system rather than a bolt-on transponder reader near the ignition. Since the Model S launched (2012) through today's Model 3, Y, and current S/X, the car checks for an authorized key card, phone key, or fob within range before allowing drive engagement; there's no ignition barrel to defeat and no separate immobilizer ECU to reset the way a Honda or Toyota would have. This means "getting the immobilizer to accept a key" isn't really a separate step from pairing the key itself — once a key credential is successfully added through the touchscreen, the car already trusts it to drive. The tradeoff is that all of that trust routes through software tied to the owner's Tesla account, so a locksmith's job here leans toward pairing support and manual-entry knowledge rather than the chip-cloning or transponder-relearn work common on older combustion vehicles.
Tesla's version of "all keys lost" is less about cutting metal and more about restoring authorized access to the vehicle's onboard computer. If every key card, key fob, and phone key has been lost or deleted, the car itself is still fully locked out of the owner's control — there's no ignition cylinder to pick or blank to cut. Regaining entry to the vehicle's exterior (via the hidden mechanical release behind the badge or under the door handle, depending on model) can sometimes be worked out by a mobile locksmith familiar with Tesla's manual-entry points, but pairing a NEW key card or phone key to the car requires being logged into the owner's Tesla account through the touchscreen or the Tesla app — that step is account authentication, not lock-picking. If the owner no longer has app access either, that becomes a Tesla-account-recovery problem, not a locksmith problem, and may need Tesla support or an authorized service center. Any shop claiming to bypass that account layer itself with generic tools is worth being skeptical of.
No — Model 3 and Model Y have never had a metal ignition key, and current Model S/X don't either (early Model S/X used a traditional-shaped fob with buttons, but nothing that cuts or turns). Entry and drive authorization is done through an NFC key card, a phone acting as a Bluetooth key, or an optional key fob, all paired to the car through its own touchscreen.
Not in the traditional sense — there's no lock cylinder to code-cut a blade for. What can be provided is a replacement key card or a walk through pairing a phone or fob, which is a software/pairing job done through the touchscreen rather than a cutting-machine job.
If the center screen is unresponsive or the low-voltage battery is dead, no key card or phone will pair until power is restored — a jump-start or 12V battery service usually has to happen before any key programming attempt. A locksmith without jump-start capability may need to coordinate with roadside assistance first.
Both work off similar short-range wireless credentials; a key card is a fallback that doesn't depend on phone battery or Bluetooth, which is why Tesla still ships one and recommends keeping it as backup. Neither is a mechanical key, so losing all of them means no physical override exists.
If a phone or key card is genuinely locked inside, exterior access still generally requires the account-linked key, since Teslas don't have a separate mechanical door lock a slim jim or wedge would work against in the usual way — a mobile locksmith familiar with the model's hidden manual door-release points is the more realistic path in a true lockout.
The general flow — add a new key through the car's own touchscreen while an existing authorized key is present — is consistent across Model 3, Y, S, and X, though the exact menu steps and available key types (card vs. fob vs. phone) differ slightly by model and production year.