I have an opportunity to buy a 1999 Mercury Cougar that is in excellent condition. The only problem with it is that there is something messed up with the Passive Anti-Theft System (PATS II) and it won''t recognize the car keys. The Ford dealer attempted to reprogram the keys and said that he couldn''t get the car to respond correctly and that there must be a computer failure. His suggestion was to replace the computer (which one?) and then try to get the car to respond to reprogram the key.


My question is what can I do? Is it possible to bypass the PATS system? If I were to replace the computer, what computer or module would I need to replace? Is it possible to replace the Cougar module with one from a Mystique or Contour that does not have the PATS system on it? Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks.