If your Ford Fiesta lock won’t turn, there’s a good chance it’s been giving you trouble for a while. Ford ignition locks and keys are not the greatest, so we want to explain the problem and our solution. Every week we get calls about Ford locks jamming, most of them can be fixed quickly.
Today we’re going to look at the Fiesta built between 2008-2015. When Ford released this new version back then, it came with a brand new type of key that got our attention. Instead of the rounded type of key, this one has a flat blade and is matched to a high security lock. Unfortunately, once the key and lock starts to wear you’ll find that your Ford Fiesta lock won’t turn. Let us explain why.
What's wrong with my Ford Fiesta Lock?
So it’s a two part thing. Firstly, your car key is probably very worn. When the key is brand new, there is a crisp line that runs along the key where it is cut. However over time, this line gets worn and the key no longer does its job correctly. Look at the difference between a new key and a worn key.
When the key wears, it get’s harder for the lock to turn. Eventually you need to start jiggling it about inside your Ford Fiesta lock, just to get it to start.
By doing this, you start to damage the inside of the lock, putting extra pressure on the inside. Eventually, one day, you no longer get away with it, the lock is jammed tight!
How to fix your Ford Fiesta Lock
Now that the lock is stuck, you have a big problem. Obviously you can’t use the car, but fixing it is also a lot more difficult. The lock sits inside a lock housing, which is in turn attached to the steering column. In order to remove the faulty lock from the housing and replace it with a new one, you need to turn the key! Ford introduced this as a security feature over thirty years ago.
We can easily sort your problem, without drilling, or replacing everything. However, before you do anything, we want you to understand the choices you have. By the end of this article, you should understand the costs involved and our recommended solution.
Here are the choices you have.
- Replace both the lock and the lock housing. By using all new parts, the new lock, fits into the new housing and then is secured to the car. This is the most expensive option, plus you’ll end up with a different key to the ignition and door.
- Drill the old lock out and fit a new one. We never like to hear about locks getting drilled out. It’s normally unnecessary, very messy and there’s a chance you can damage the housing. Although this will allow you to get the new lock into the car, you’ll need to make sure there are no small pieces of metal inside the housing, otherwise the lock will jam again. This will work fine, but there’s a much better way.
- Call us to remove the faulty Ford Fiesta lock using special equipment, and replace the lock. Lets look at each option in turn, so you can decide which is best for you. Although we recommend this option, we want you to understand your options.
Option One - Replace all the parts
Although this isn’t what we recommend (it’s the really hard way of doing this) here are the costs for option one.
We’re writing this in March 2023 so the costs of parts changes all the times but here goes.
Firstly you’ll need a new lock and you have three choices. We recommend a lock from Ford. It comes complete, with a new blade and we know that they are the best quality you can get. Normally around £125 here’s a link to the latest price from the official Ford website https://shop.ford.co.uk/products/fiesta-lock-cylinder-kit
Or you could find a cheap lock online, maybe eBay or Amazon. These are copy parts made in a different factory and we do not recommend them. They are cheap for a reason, however they are normally under half the price of a genuine Ford lock.
Or you could get a second had lock from a scrapyard, so even cheaper still. Again, to us there’s little point in fitting an old part. You already have one of those in your car and it gave up working. So fitting another one could leave you in the same position again soon.
You'll need a Lock Housing
Again, the best thing to buy for your Ford Fiesta is a genuine part. This available dire t from Ford by following this link. https://shop.ford.co.uk/products/ford-fiesta-steering-and-ignition-lock
Presently the cost of this part from Ford is £95 but this could change to check out the link.
As always, you could buy a cheap one from elsewhere, but they are not as good by far. Also, you could buy used parts from the scrapyard, but again, we don’t recommend this.
And a key blade
When you buy a Ford Fiesta lock replacement lock, it will be on a different shaped key to your current key. This is simply because it’s been made to a random key number and the lock will come with a blade to match that. This is true whether you buy it from the Ford dealer, eBay or the scrapyard.
The blade that comes with the lock will not fit into your key, so you’ll need to get a new blade cut and put into your car key.
How much will option one cost?
With all this information here’s a rough guide to the costs of replacing all the parts.
- With new parts from Ford costing £220, plus a blade at £30, parts are £250. Plus someone has to drive to you and fit it all, or you need to get it to a garage. I’d allow £150 for this, so a rough total cost of £400.
- Or getting a cheap ebay lock and housing is £60, plus the fitting of £150, which makes £210.
- Lastly get a scrapyard old lock for £30 and fit it yourself which totals £0!
So you can see that option one ranges from £400 for new parts to £30 for old used parts. We don’t recommend option one, because the key shape is different to your doors. This matters a lot if you ever lose your car keys. Let’s move on to option two.
Option Two - Drill the lock!
Before we start, this is not what we recommend. We avoid drilling locks wherever we can. It’s messy and there’s a chance you’ll damage the housing or yourself! Plus there’s a good chance that the swarf, the small pieces of metal will cause problems when the new lock is fitted.
The purpose of drilling the lock is to remove the old one and re-use the lock housing.
This saves you money plus it makes the job a lot easier. You don’t need to to pay for the labour of someone removing the old housing and fitting the new one.
If you’ve never drilled a lock you must remember not to drill too deep. The lock fits into a mechanism that makes the car start, and it also controls the steering lock. If you drill to deep, you will damage the housing and it will be unusable and unsafe.
Tips for drilling your Ford Fiesta Lock
Take it nice and slowly, there’s no rush. However once you start you are past the point of no return! Remember you need to to be able to turn the lock, it’s not just a case of drilling everything away! Most of all, try not to break the drills inside the lock as this makes life much more difficult.
The good news if that this will save you the £95 for the lock housing. However, there’s a much better way, and this is choosing option three.
Option three - Remove the faulty Ford Fiesta lock
If you want a professional job, the only option is to remove the old lock and replace it with a genuine Ford lock. You’ll need the help of a good Auto Locksmith, like us, and we will do the following.
- Remove the old lock without drilling it out. By using special locksmith equipment, we can get the lock turned, and in the bin! This will save you the cost of the housing at £95.
- Cut a fresh new blade to factory settings to match your door and ignition.
- Take the brand new lock from Ford and rearrange the parts inside the lock to suit your new key blade. We call this re-keying the lock and it means that the key that fits your door, will still for the ignition lock.
- Fit the new lock into your original housing.
Costs and Benefits of Option Three
There are good reasons to avoid the mess of drilling, and the effort of replacing everything when getting a new Ford Fiesta Lock.
Firstly, you know that the parts we fit, are genuine with a warranty and they won’t let you down.
Next, the lock we fit to your car, will be on the same shaped key as your door lock. That means that if you ever lose your car keys, it will be simple to replace them.
Lastly, you can trust us that you’ll get a dealer quality job done, without the cost of recovering your car.
The costs are as follows.
You’ll need a new lock at the current price, around £125 at the time of writing. Next you’ll need a new key blade at £30. Lastly you’ll need the old lock professionally removed, and the new one fitted. The cost will depend on where you are in Lincolnshire. The range of this service is from £120, up to £180, according to how far we have to travel.
So, for example, in Lincoln, you can get up and running again for around £275 and know that your Ford Fiesta Lock won’t let you down again.
We hope this makes sense and you now understand everything, please call us on 01522 514141 if you have any further questions and thanks for reading.