I have heard that having too heavy of a keychain can cause the ignition cylinder/switch to fail or wear down.

I have only a few items on my key chain: the ignition key, a small key, some club membership tags (loyalty programs for grocery stores), the transmitter fob, and a 1x AAA LED flash light. The heaviest object is the 1x AAA LED flash light. I'd say it all weighs under 1 lb. Am I in danger of wearing out the ignition cylinder?

 

Hmmm, I have never heard of this and hopefully that doesn't happen. I have at least 6 keys on mine, a USB drive, keyfob and security card (fob).

 

I have always had a lot of keys on my ring, 15 now plus the car key and key fob. Years back I heard the same thing and had more than one person tell me to get all the keys off my ring because I was going to damage my ignition. Well I never took them off and 5 cars later I've yet to have any damage to any one of the ignitions...

 

Just remember if you take your vehicle in for service remove all the keys if you think this will create an issue. I get single keys all the time at my car wash because I think the customers are embarrassed by the loaded key chains.

 

What car wash is that? you are in KC right?

 

Yes, this will damage your ignition switch.

 

+1

I've had it happen.

I bought a nifty quick release keyring; it has three keyrings that can be separated quickly. I now only carry the car key, a house key and the key fob on what I stick in my iginition. If I need to carry other keys I use the quick release rings for those.



Martin

 

Yes it can, it happened to my previous car, one of the main reasons I tried the Fusion key!

 

I've heard of it happening. I've been trying to convince my fiance forever to trim down her key chain but she never does.

I have my Fusion key, and about 4 keys on mine.

 

That's why I keep my car keys on one ring (just the key, fob, and a small keychain so I easily know which set of keys goes with which car) and the rest of my keys are on another ring. It also keeps the extra keys from scratching the plastic around the ignition

 

I really like that keychain idea. Where did you find it?
thanks,
Mark

 

To those who have had the ignition damaged...how do you know it was damaged from having lots of items on the keychain? Could it have been damaged some other way?

 

I liked it, too. Same knurled aluminum and colors as braided hose fittings. I picked it up at a local Ace hardware for $3.50. Amazon has them: http://www.amazon.com/ring-Quick-Rel...7700056&sr=8-9

Both times it happened to me the dealers that replaced the ignition switch said the failure was likely caused by too much weight on the keyring. The first time it was a Honda dealer and my keys; the second a Ford dealer and the wife's.

Martin

 

I've had this one for 7 years or so and used it because...

1. I ride motorcycles and didn't want it scratched
2. The same thing happens with Motorcycle ignitions as described here
3. I can leave the Key in the ignition and use the fob to lock the doors if I want to leave the car running to warm up
4. I HATE keys hitting my leg.

 

Thank you!

 

i have actually had to replace an ignition switch from this kind of damage before....

the weight wears out the rings in the ignition

 

I use one like this, too. Only my ignition key on it. I've had to have 3 ignition
switches replaced over the years, all Chevys. One on my wife's Chevy Beretta, and
two on my Monte Carlo Z-34. It costed approx. $400 to have each switch replaced. We don't own Chevys anymore.

I don't know if having a bunch of keys dangling from the switches caused the problem. But
it's not a big deal to remove the ignition key from the keyring with the quick disconnect.
And I don't have to worry about a fistful of cars swinging around, scratching up the steering column.

I use one of these also:

 

I remove my keys because I don't trust people (copying keys)

 

I've had to change 3 or 4 key cylinders on a couple of our small fleet of Ford vans over a year or so. I can't remember what mileage they were at with the problems. I told the operators not to carry so many keys on their key-chain. They were carrying in excess of 10 keys. They'd wear to cylinders out to the point the buzzers wouldn't work and it would be difficult to get the cylinder into a proper position to remove and sometimes install the key.

 

Well, the ignition lock cylinder in my Mustang siezed up and won't turn to run or start position. I had noticed that it had been sticking frequently for the past few weeks but usually the second attempt will get it to turn so I can start the engine. I have tried different keys and it does the same using all of them. I only keep my remote and the one key on my ring so it's not an issue of too many keys.

I have a 1984 Tbird that has never worn out a lock cylinder yet this Mustang is only 2 1/2 years old giving me this problem.

The car is going to have to be towed from my home to the dealership. I cannot get it started and I am stranded at home without a second car that I am able to drive, since the Tbird is not ready for the road yet.