Having lost the opportunity to get their Toyota Estima minivan, a married couple from Canada was forced to resort to hacker services.

The story began in May of this year, when John and Maria Higgins of Surrey (Canada) purchased a used Toyota Estima car from a local car dealer, brought from Japan. Instead of two or three keys, usually issued to customers, the pair received only one.

A month later the Higgins went by car on a trip across Canada and lost the key while walking around the city of Victoria. Probably, the key fell out when John tied his shoelaces to his little son. Realizing that they can not continue the journey, the Higgins turned to the car dealership, but neither he nor even the Japanese manufacturer could provide them with a duplicate key that turned out to be unique in its kind.

The car was equipped with a complex immobilizer (electronic anti-theft), and the key contained an electronic chip, which the manufacturer could not reproduce. Since the minivan was second-hand, it was delivered from Japan with only one key.

The couple asked for help from the local press and placed an ad about finding a burglar. For his services, the Higgins promised to pay 500 Canadian dollars, but there were no volunteers. Blocked Toyota Estima stood in a parking lot in Victoria for two weeks, until it was moved to the garage of a local mechanic. He in turn turned to a familiar hacker who asked not to mention his name.

The mechanic and the hacker removed the dashboard and after several attempts to connect different chips could identify and reprogram the immobilizer.