Program a Spare Key Fob (Sentry Key)

Your Charger uses a Sentry Key immobiliser, so a fresh-cut spare will turn the ignition but the engine dies within two seconds until the key’s transponder chip is taught to the car. If you already hold two working programmed keys and the car is a US-market model, you can add spares yourself with the Customer Learn routine — no dealer, no scan tool. The remote-lock buttons on the same fob enrol in the same step.

How you know a key needs programming

A spare that isn’t programmed cranks the engine, runs for a second or two, then stalls, and the security lamp in the cluster flashes as it cuts fuel. A brand-new blank that has never been cut won’t even turn the lock cylinder. On a Charger the tell-tale is that the doors still lock and unlock from the fob (the radio remote is a separate, simpler function) yet the car won’t stay running — that split behaviour is exactly what an untaught transponder looks like.

1. Have each blank key cut to match the ignition lock so it turns freely.
2. Insert the first valid Sentry Key and turn the ignition to On.
3. After the ignition has been On for more than 3 seconds but less than 15, turn it Off; within 15 seconds swap in the second valid key and turn to On.
4. About 10 seconds later the security indicator flashes — you are now in Customer Learn mode.
5. Within 60 seconds turn Off, insert the blank key, and turn to On.
6. After roughly 10 seconds the indicator stops flashing, glows solid for about 3 seconds, then goes out — the key is programmed. Cycle the ignition and start the car to confirm.

Why the two-key rule exists

Customer Learn is a deliberate anti-theft gate: the car will only open its programming window when it recognises two keys it already trusts, which stops a thief with one copied blank from enrolling more. The chip carries a rolling secret that the immobiliser module checks on every start, so an unprogrammed blank simply never gets a valid handshake and the PCM refuses to keep the injectors firing.

If it won’t take

Watch the timing windows closely — miss the 3-to-15-second gap or the 60-second Learn window and the system quietly exits with nothing stored, so always verify the new key actually starts and keeps the car running rather than retrying blindly. A key still married to another vehicle will be rejected; so will any key on a non-US country-code car. If you own only one working key, or you have lost them all, there is no owner path in — a dealer or automotive locksmith with the four-digit PIN and a scan tool is required. The Charger accepts up to eight keys total; run the whole sequence again for each additional spare, and once it cranks cleanly, test its lock and unlock buttons from a few feet away to confirm the remote took at the same time.