When your high-tech security ignition key breaks.

I know that the high tech security ignition keys with a computer chip that communicates with the starter are smart and prevent unauthorized "keys" from starting a car.

But darn it's a problem -- and an expensive problem -- when they break. I'm having that problem with my wife's key to her Lexus. After about six years the plastic case has cracked and despite numerous attempts at reinforcing it with tape, today the actual metal key fell out of the plastic electronics case that holds the computer chip as well as the door unlock and trunk release switches.

So tonight, I removed several layers of the old tape and applied one new layer in an attempt to postpone having to go to the dealer to order a replacement.

I don't know the price but I suspect it will be well north of $100.

I remember when I left my electronic key to my Mercedes in the pocket of my jeans and it went into the wash and was ruined. That replacement cost me, if I recall, about $135 and had to be sent from Germany via an overnight shipment. I was told a replacement could not be made in the USA.

Do we have to get a replacement from Japan for a Lexus key?

Sometimes you just wish for the old, simple days, when you could get a spare key made for 79-cents at the convenience store or at the shoe repair store.