2011 Honda CR-V: When the Ignition Won’t Turn—Until It Does

A customer recently called me about a frustrating issue with his 2011 Honda CR-V. He said his key didn’t always turn in the ignition—sometimes he’d have to remove it and reinsert it multiple times before it would finally work.

Right away, I suspected a worn key. That’s a pretty common cause with these vehicles, especially when the key is original and has seen years of daily use. I suggested he come by to have his keys reshelled. Because the CR-V uses a remote head key that includes a transponder chip, replacing just the shell (while reusing the electronics) is much more cost-effective than cutting and programming an entirely new key.

He was more skeptical than I was—it wasn’t just one key causing problems. He’d tried his spare, too, and the issue persisted. Still, he decided to stop by the next day to see if we could get to the bottom of it.

When he arrived, I tested both keys and found myself just as puzzled at first. But I quickly noticed a pattern: sometimes, the key slid in smoothly and turned without issue. Other times, there was a slight resistance as it went in—and when that happened, the key wouldn't turn.

That detail told me something internal was intermittently interfering with the key's movement. I didn’t know exactly what yet, but I suspected something was off inside the ignition lock cylinder. I quoted the customer a price to replace the ignition, and we agreed to go ahead with the job. Since it was a Sunday, I couldn’t order the part until Monday—but I overnighted it. With ignition issues like this, you don’t want to wait too long.

By Tuesday, the part arrived and the customer dropped off the car. I got to work pulling the ignition out, and once I had it apart, the mystery finally made sense.

What I found made me think about how many customers have probably dealt with this same issue—living with it until the ignition finally stops turning at all. I’ve worked on a lot of Hondas, and I’ve never seen one behave quite like this: sometimes working, sometimes not. Usually, a worn key just makes the ignition a little stiff, and cutting a fresh key solves it. Or, if it’s past that point, the ignition won’t turn at all and needs to be removed and rebuilt.

Here’s what happened in this case: the customer’s most-used key was significantly worn. One day, it didn’t lift one of the wafers in the lock properly, and that forceful insertion slightly bent the wafer out of shape. It wasn’t bent enough to jam the lock completely—but just enough to cause intermittent problems. Even the backup key, which wasn’t as worn, didn’t always lift the wafer correctly due to the wafer now being bent

, resulting in that resistance and no turn.

That small misalignment was the root of it all. Once I understood that, I knew I didn’t need to replace the ignition after all—I could simply rebuild it. I cleaned everything up, replaced the damaged wafer, and put it back together. While I was at it, I also reshelled the customer’s worn keys so the issue wouldn’t repeat itself.

The result? A smooth-turning ignition, working better than it had in years—and a customer who now understands just how much of a difference a properly shaped key can make.