Hey Guys,
The keys unfortunately do have a chip in them which needs to be programmed. One thing I did learn when I drove Trucks however was that Freightliner ( who is owned by Mercedes Benz, and operated as a part of Chrysler also runs these same keys for their Truck division as they do for most of their products. The interesting thing I found out early on was that to cut down on production costs, Freightliner only made 6 different keys for all of their Trucks, so if you had a Freightliner, you had a one in six chance at being able to open any other Freightliner on the planet!
Once, I even locked myself out of my Truck, and figured before I called the Company, I would try my old key to my Plymouth Voyager, and sure enough it worked!
With that said, rumor has it that all Chrysler Products are done the same way, and as a result, I can confirm that two Dealerships in my area both have a box of keys that are already programed, and when I bought my Cruiser, as well as when my Parents bought theirs, they each needed an extra key, so they pulled out the box, and tried a couple till they found one that worked, and gave them to us at no charge.
So you might want to check with the Dealer, and see what they got! Do not go to the Service Writer, or Service Dept, as they will most likely charge you. Instead my recommendation would be to go talk to a Sales Rep. If you have a good Sales Rep that you know, and work with, chances are they might be able to hook you up! If you don't know anyone, and its a good size Dealership, I find it helpful to find a good Rep, and talk about PT's, show off your ride, tell him your part of a big Club, and always looking into Sponsorship, etc, and then check back in with that rep every little while just to see how things are going, if maybe they got any cool PT's, etc. I find that if you ever need something from a Dealer, it is always a good thing to know someone out their who can help you!
Anyways, not sure if any of this is helpful, but might be worth a try!
Take er easy!
Candyman