J_C
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- July 30, 2009
- Messages
- 6,572
- Reaction score
- 2,365
- City, State
- Florence, KY
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 XLT 4WD 4.0L SOHC
Welcome to the forum!
The VIN will tell a dealer shop what cut a key needs to fit the ignition cylinder, which isn't needed if the old key is present to copy. It won't do anything about the chip in it. Even if they could pull up the unique ID coding of the chip in an original key, new keys are not programmable themselves (except aftermarket clone keys that use a battery to store that, and require a currently working key already programmed into the vehicle PATS), already have a different ID code, so with or without the vin, the procedure is the same to erase old keys and program new in.
In other words, looking up the VIN won't get you any further towards solving a PATS problem.
