Considering that the lock up system is a given, this is more about how horrendously expensive the keys and fobs are. But, regardless of the price point, they (the keys and fobs) are the only game in town, and we are stuck with the cost (or the risk, depending on how you are going to deal with the problem).
And, it's not only Daimler Benz products that have this problem. Getting our two additional keys for the Scion xB was equally as expensive, if not so difficult. So, it's not just Daimler Benz.
We are still waiting for our new key blanks (and the new lock cylinders and the new glove box door, all at the dealer's expense) to get here, and we are pretty obsessively careful about how the only two extant keys get handled. Mine is on a locking belt clip that is locked to the belt, while hers rides inside of her purse on a snap ring. And, we both verify where the other's keys are before operating the car, as well as putting them up in "standardized" places when we get home.
During our short trip over to the Austin area today, all of the checking and double checking seemed pretty silly, and it was. And, it will remain that way until something goes wrong, at which point our precautions will appear to be positively prescient. After all, you never perceive the need for a comprehensive computer backup strategy until after the data loss that provokes that perception has taken place. Why should keys be any different?
As my lovely wife once lost a key ring with not one but two opener/immobilizer keys on it during a sixty foot walk from the parking lot to her classroom, over clear plain ground no less, with the loss noticed not sixty seconds after reaching the room to boot, I'm going to opt for being obsessive and silly, just in case. Once the new locks and door are here and all four keys and fobs are properly in order, then we'll slack off.
Today
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