Modern Vespa

I dropped my keys and the master key fob for my 2023 GTS 300 Vespa broke open and the chip flew out. It was raining and I looked for the chip for about an hour with help from my wife and a work friend and no one could find the chip. So now we are down to a single key fob with no way to make a backup. I contacted scooter West and the dealer and their recommendation was the following kit that cost More than $600. Yikes. I don't think that there are any other options, but I'd be interested to know if anyone else has another idea. This is a completely different system than the pre-2023 systems. This is not a system that has the brown and blue keys. This is a completely keyless fob-based system and I've lost the chip that runs the master fob.

https://www.scooterwest.com/keyless-remote-control-fob-vespa-gts-300-hpe2-2023-requires-dealer-programming-1.html

To be clear, you've lost both?

No just the master FOB. I still have one of the regular fobs.

May i then ask why you were carrying the master? I would have left that safely at home like with a brown key. I'm going to guess because it's smaller in your pocket?

Well what's past is past. I guess right now I'm trying to figure out what I can do at this point.

Might sound crazy, but is there anybody close to you with a metal detector, maybe it is just out of sight, and this will help to find the chip, if you move quickly.

No luck. It's nowhere to be found

Maybe not enough metal in chip, are there any drains close by, maybe rain pushed it down

Also look in your clothing, if you have upturned jeans, or boots etc

I don't suppose this could loosely qualify for an insurance claim under the comprehensive part of your policy?

I found it...

Great news. Now, where was it hiding?

Lock it in a fireproof safe bolted to something like the concrete floor of your house.

And then use the normal fob.

In South Africa, many comprehensive insurance policies have specific allowances for the replacement and recoding of the key and vehicle locks in the event of a lost of a key or fob.

This is an insurer's risk mitigation clause to prevent an unreported lost key from being used later to unlock the vehicle without authorisation.

Every vehicle I have ever owned came with two working fully-functioning keys. This is handy because it allows couples and families to easily switch around vehicles. But with the Vespa, there is only one fully functional fob, which means that if my wife happens to have the fob in her purse while she's running errands, no one else can drive the Vespa unless they use the master fob--which is super risky, as my experience shows. What makes matters worse is there's no way to make a duplicate fob without going to a dealership. In my case, the closest dealership is about 2,000 miles away. The situation is really unacceptable. We've got three Vespas in the family and I love them all. But these 2023 and later key fobs are a huge design failure. I'm hoping that Malossi or one of the other vendors will come up with a replacement ignition that allows for user fob replacement and programming. I would buy one today and I'd probably be willing to spend 600 bucks or more to fix this problem for good.

In case anyone is interested, the chip at the heart of this system is made by a company called NXP and is based on their HITAG2 technology which involves an electronic handshake between the chip and the receiving unit. This handshake technology makes the chip extremely difficult to clone and after extensive research I haven't been able to find any cloning devices that can clone this for a Vespa. The particular NXP chip in my Vespa master fob is a HITAG2 model number PCF7939ma. But I'm guessing that Vespa will make running upgrades to its fobs as NXP continues to refine its "technology."

Hear! Hear!

For the few dollars it might cost to program an extra fob at the factory vs. hundreds in the field, it would be nice if Piaggio would supply two key fobs.

Not sure Piaggio/Vespa would hire you as their Financial officer, but totally agree with you.

ah, multiple riders. understand. This is not something Malossi is likely to do as they don't do replacement ecu/throttlebody for any gts. Instead if you can find someone with https://www.immo-tools.lt/en/products/asw-next.htm then that has an immo-off function for the MIU G4 that should work (I read the docs, think it works with both pre-keyless and with keyless). Other similar systems such as OBDStart or Kess v3 might also have this.

Personally I don't want keyless.

Edit:
OBDStar does support Fob programming for GTS keyless. Maybe find a nearby _motorcycle_ shop that has OBDStar (or buy it USD$399) and order a fob from an american dealer. (read the 'coverage' file at https://www.obdstar.com/Products_375.html for full gts feature list)