No, the cylinder is "blank" until the first use when it matches to the key used.

BTW, it matches to the cutting (teeth) of the key, not the transponder.

 

The rugged ridge hood lock was a waste of money....I threw mine in the trash. Going to go with the mopar hood lock!

 

I think that would be the best solution for locking the hood. I saw a utube video of a guy putting a padlock on the front of the hood, down by the grill. Nice and secure, not much rattling. It is done on a TJ, but should work for a JK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA6UE5Ny5d8

 

The rugged ridge lock is a waste of money. Mine dont work at all....

 

Correct. However, just found one bad feature about the Mopar. The key cannot be removed in the open position. That is, we must put it back in locked to remove the key.

Any way to circumvent this? I'd rather leaving mine in open while on the trails. Never know when I'll need to open the hood without turning the engine off because I have to use the key.

 

I put the MOPAR on a few months ago and it does look and work well. If anyone does plan on installing it make sure you have a rivet puller that can pull the four big rivets it comes with. Easy install, but you're right - pricy.