It is not a good idea to install Kwikset Smartkey locks on your doors
Category : Locksmith
Notice the small slot to the left of the keyway, this indicates that the lock is a Smartkey lock
The Good
So you want to install Kwikset Smartkey on your doors, or you just did and have waited until now to do some research on them. Surely these locks can’t be all bad, right? Of course not, they do have their good points.
- They are easy to be re-keyed by the owner as long as they have a working key.
- These locks are also very resistant to lock picking and bumping techniques.
The Bad
Now let’s talk about why it is not a good idea to install Kwikset Smartkey locks on your doors. First of all, these locks tend to fail under normal usage, even within the first year many times. People have reported that they left their home and locked it up as normal, only to come back and find that their key no longer operates the door that it locked just hours earlier.
Here is an article that has a focus on all of the ways the well known Marc Tobias has found to defeat the Kwikset Smartkey. The one thing that the article does not seem to mention (newer versions weren’t out yet) is that these locks have gone through different versions, as many things do. While Kwikset did address a few of the issues, they didn’t really solve the problems altogether. They made the wafers thicker, the older version has thinner wafers that are easier to defeat.
These locks have also had plastic in them, yes plastic. Locks and plastic really do not have any place together in my opinion. Since then, in most if not all, the newer versions use a weak pot metal which replaced the plastic. While they have made these changes and a few others, they still fail. In my opinion, they are not the Grade 1 locks they claim to be. Think about this before you install Kwikset Smartkey on or in your home.
