The Jeep Renegade (Photo 1) is the first Jeep vehicle to be built solely outside the United States. In the past, some Jeep vehicles were built both in the U.S. and overseas, with most of the offshore production going to other countries. In this case, the Renegade is built in Melfi, Italy, alongside its sister vehicle the Fiat 500X. The Renegade will be sold in North America, South Africa, Europe, and Brazil. The Jeep Renegade is basically a Fiat 500X reimagined by Jeep. Although all of the Renegades sold in North America will be four-wheel drive capable, a front-wheel drive only version will be offered in other markets. The vehicle used in this article was the “Trailhawk” version which is 4WD only.
I am no stranger to Fiat products; the first new vehicle that I ever owned was a 1969 Fiat 850 Spider. One of the automotive magazines of the day said this of the Fiat 850 Spider: “At high speed on the highway, with the top down, it sounds like you have an engine chasing you, and you are struggling to stay ahead of it.” After driving a Jeep Renegade for a few days, I can say that Fiat’s have definitely improved! I found the vehicle to be comfortable, quiet, and capable; but then again, I never took it off-road.
From the locksmith’s perspective, I was not as well pleased. The vehicle is difficult to unlock, the door lock is one of the oddest locks that I have ever dealt with on a vehicle, and at this time, programming a new key requires a dealer-level tool. I did find the door lock relatively easy to pick and decode with the Lishi 2-in-1 pick, so once a programming tool is available in the aftermarket, I look forward to making keys to the Renegade. First, let’s discuss opening procedures for the Renegade.
Unlocking the Jeep Renegade
Because the inside door handles on the front doors override the lock mechanism, I first considered an under-window tool. I was surprised to find that the seal at the base of the front windows on the Renegade was extremely tight. I tried my best to open a large enough gap for an under-window tool, but there was simply no way on my test vehicle. (I had tried before on a show vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show, and there was enough room on that car, but the fit on the production car was simply too tight.)
After eliminating the front doors, I tried an under-window tool on the rear doors. The fit on the rear doors is loose enough to insert the tool, but because the rear handles do not override, you would have to attack the mechanical lock rocker, and that was just too hard to do.
I finally settled for the Jiffy-Jak Vehicle Entry System. But as you will see later, the Lishi 2-in-1 pick did a great job in picking the driver side door lock, so I would be tempted to use that as a vehicle entry tool on the Renegade.
To begin, I inserted the LKM 227 Tech-Train air wedge between the door and the frame on the front door (Photo 2). Because of the plastic stiffener in the LKM 227, I was able to insert the air wedge without using the levers to open a gap. I was able to slide the air wedge into the gap between the door and the frame relatively easily. Once in place, I inflated the air wedge to give me a large enough gap to insert the tip of the long-reach rod with the rubber tip in place (Photo 3).
I then slid the finish protector sleeve into place so that the rod didn’t touch any of the painted surfaces (Photo 4). If you don’t have a finish protector sleeve, you can always use a flattened toilet paper tube to protect the edges of the door as you use the long-reach rod.
Once the tool was inside the vehicle, it was relatively easy to bring the tip down behind the inside door handle (Photo 5). Once the tip of the tool is behind the handle, I could lever the handle out far enough to override the lock mechanism by rotating the handle on the tool. Although it is hard to see the handle from the outside, it is pretty easy to locate by feel. Once you have pulled the handle out an inch or so, the door should be unlocked; it is not necessary to pull the handle far enough to actually open the door. When you are sure that you have unlocked the door, you can remove the rod, deflate the air wedge and open the door in the normal fashion. If you open the door with the air wedge in place, the door will pop open, the air wedge and the tool will both fall free. I prefer to release the pressure on the door before opening it. It looks more professional that way.
Removing the Door Lock
On the Jeep Renegade, like many new vehicles, the door lock is held in the door by a single screw that can be accessed from the edge of the door (Photo 6). However, the lock retention mechanism is unlike any that I have seen before. In order to remove the lock, you will need to turn the #25 Torx® screw clockwise, as if you were tightening it, approximately 20 turns until it comes to a solid stop. At that point, you can pull the outside handle far enough to release the tabs that extend out from the lock housing, and pull the lock from the door.
The lock is held in place by two lugs that are controlled by the screw at the edge of the door. Photo 7 shows the lower lug in the position that it would be in when the lock is secured in the door. Photo 8 shows the lower lug in the retracted position where the lock can be removed. (A second lug is located above the lock that works the same way, but I was not able to photograph both of them at the same time through the opening in the door.) “Loosening” the screw will move the lug into a slot on the lock housing that will secure the lock in place. “Tightening” the screw will retract the lugs and allow the lock to be removed from the door. Photo 9 shows the lock after it has been removed from the door.
Door Lock Disassembly
At this point, we can disassemble the lock for service or to decode the lock to generate a key. The painted shell around the lock is held in place by several tabs around the base of the lock (Photo 10). I will carefully remove the shell to make it easier to clamp the lock in a vise, and to prevent possible damage to the shell.
Also in Photo 10, notice the two lugs on the end of the lock plug and the two slots in the rear of the lock housing. In order to remove the plug from the housing, you will have to rotate the lock 90 degrees. If you do not have a working key for the lock, you will have to pick the lock or find some other way to make it turn before you can take it apart. Other than the tailpiece interlocking with the lock housing, the only other retainer is a small spring-clip at the rear of the cylinder. This clip can be accessed from both sides of the cylinder and there is even a small ramp cast into the lock housing to let you more easily get a tool under the clip for removal (Photo 11). Photo 12 shows the clip removed from the lock.
After removing the clip, you can insert a key and turn the plug a quarter turn. This will align the lugs on the rear of the plug with the slots in the lock housing so that you can pull the plug out of the housing (Photo 13). (It was at this point that I removed the shell around the lock to make the job easier.) As you pull the plug free of the housing, you do not have to worry about any of the tumblers falling out of the lock. As you will see shortly, the tumblers are held in place very well.
With the plug removed from the lock, we can see that it has seven tumblers, with three on one side of the keyway and four on the opposite side (Photo 14). There are eight positions in the system, and the door lock contains cuts 2 – 8. If you look closely at Photo 15, you will see that all of the springs are located on one side of the plug rather than half on one side and half on the other as in most locks. If you had the lock plug in your hand, you would also notice that the tumblers won’t come out of their sockets no matter how hard you push on them. Both of these facts are related, and if you look closely at Photo 16 you will see why.
The arrow is pointing at a small portion of a metal retainer that runs the length of the keyway. The end of the retainer can only be seen by removing the face cap from the plug. This retainer must be removed in order to remove any of the tumblers, and once it is removed, all of the tumblers will fall out of the plug if you are not careful. You may also be able to see a number stamped on the side of the plug in ink. That number is the numeric portion of the key code, in this case 03599. The actual key code for this lock is DE03599.
The easiest way I found for removing the face cap, in such a way that it can be reused, was to use the type of bottle opener that goes on a keyring. The face cap is staked onto the plug in four places. In Photo 17, I’m using the bottle opener to carefully lift the face cap free of the plug. If you are careful, you’ll be able to remove the face cap without damage as shown in Photo 18. Three small parts under the face cap can easily fall out. Photo 19 shows the shutter door, the shutter spring, and the brass pin that the shutter spring rides on. When you reassemble the lock, make sure that you position the curved lip of the shutter so that it is pointed down toward the lock.
In Photo 20, with the shutter components out of the way, you can see the end of the retainer where it protrudes into the opening. Photo 21 shows the retainer as I remove it from the lock plug. Remember that when you pull the retainer out, all of the tumblers will fall out of the plug if you don’t hold them in place. Photo 22 shows all seven of the tumblers removed from the lock. Notice the rectangular notch on the right side of each tumbler where the retainer rides.
Photo 23 shows a close-up of two tumblers. Each tumbler is stamped with both a letter and a number. The number indicates which side of the lock each tumbler is designed for. The tumblers that are stamped with a “1” are used for the odd numbered cuts. (3, 5, & 7, in this lock) The tumblers stamped with a “2” are used on the even numbered cuts. (2, 4, 6, & 8, in this lock) The depths are indicated by the letter stamped on each tumbler. A is a number 1 depth, B is a number 2 depth, C is a number 3 depth, and D is a number 4 depth.
Using the Lishi 2-in-1 Pick / Decoder
There is really no need to remove the tumblers unless you are re-keying the lock or replacing a damaged tumbler, since the code is stamped on the side of the lock plug. However, if you have the Lishi SIP-22 2-in-1 pick/ decoder, you don’t even have to remove the lock from the door in order to decode the lock. Photo 24 shows the SIP-22 pick in use. I have picked the lock in the clockwise direction to make the scale easier to read. (Picking the lock in the counter-clockwise direction will unlock the vehicle.) You can see on the scale that the number 2 cut on the key is also a number 2 (B) depth.
I found the lock on this Renegade to be relatively easy to pick and I was able to easily decode the lock once it was picked. Remember that there is no number one tumbler in the door lock, but it would be a simple matter to progress that single cut. I ran the last seven cuts through my fill program, Genericode-15 from Framon, and found only two possibilities for the first cut. Because the Jeep Renegade is a 2016 model, and was not listed in the current version, I ran it as a Fiat 500, which uses the same key blank and code series.
Ignition Lock
The vehicle that I had to work with had pushbutton start, so I did not have an ignition lock to work with for this article. However, the Renegade uses the same ignition lock as the Fiat 500. The lock uses an active retainer and can be removed easily if you have a working key. The only problem that I have heard about for that ignition lock is that the poke-hole is small and hard to find. I plan to cover the Fiat 500 in a future article.
Most of the Renegades that I have seen are equipped with pushbutton start, and if I had to make a key to either type of vehicle, I would use the door lock to generate my key, so I doubt if you will have much call to remove an ignition lock.
Programming the Renegade
At the time I am writing this, whether you are programming a prox fob or a transponder key, you will need to use a dealer level tool. I suspect that an aftermarket solution will become available soon, but for now the only option that I know of is to use the Chrysler “Micro-Pod” tool shown in Photos 25 & 26. This tool works in conjunction with a laptop running the Chrysler software. In addition to the tool, you will also have to access the Chrysler system, so a software subscription is required in addition to the cost of the tool.
The tool shown here is connected to the laptop by way of a USB cable, but it can also be configured for wireless operation via Bluetooth. Personally, I see no reason to use the Bluetooth option. As I see it, that just adds another layer of things that can go wrong. And the Chrysler software has been plagued with problems ever since Fiat took over the company.
