RF Hub Module Replacement Cost in Annetta TX (2026)

As of October 2026, programming a replacement RF hub module to a Ram, Jeep, Dodge or Chrysler runs $250 to $550 in the Annetta area with the module supplied, and that figure includes re-registering your existing fobs. Diagnosis is $95 to $180 and applies toward the repair. The module itself is priced by VIN and quoted before anything is ordered. A new proximity fob, if you need one, is $200 to $400.

The work is mobile across Parker County, so a truck that will not start does not need a tow. Call or text (817) 813-9396.

Quick Answer

The RF hub is the radio receiver and immobilizer module on push-button Chrysler-family vehicles. It listens for your fob, decides whether that fob belongs to the vehicle, and tells the engine computer whether the engine is allowed to start. When it fails, the usual complaints are a "Key Fob Not Detected" message, remote buttons that quit, and a truck or SUV that will not crank even though the fob battery is new.

Replacing it is not a parts-counter swap. A replacement hub arrives knowing nothing about your vehicle or your fobs, so it has to be introduced to the vehicle with the security PIN and then every fob has to be registered to it. That programming step is the $250 to $550 line. What pushes a job toward the bottom or top of that range is the platform, whether the vehicle has a secure gateway, where the hub sits in the body, and how many fobs you want working at the end.

RF Hub Pricing in Annetta TX

Service	Typical Price Range	Notes
Immobilizer diagnosis — fob vs. RF hub vs. network	$95–$180	Applied toward the repair
RF hub programming to the VIN, module supplied	$250–$550	Module married to the vehicle
Fob relearn after hub work	Included	Every existing fob re-registered
Replacement RF hub module (the part)	Quoted by VIN	Priced before anything is ordered
Used RF hub matched to your VIN	Quote	Not every used hub can be re-married
New proximity fob supplied and programmed	$200–$400	Emergency blade cut to match
Program a fob you supply	$85–$160	Only if the part number is correct
All keys lost, hub healthy	$320–$650	A different job from hub replacement
Emergency blade cut only	$60–$110	Opens the door, will not start the vehicle
Mobile call-out to your location	Included in quote	No tow required
Evening, weekend or holiday dispatch	Add-on	Quoted before dispatch, never added after

Disclaimer: Ranges only. Year, model, trim, gateway type, module source and the number of fobs all move the final figure. Call or text (817) 813-9396 with the year, make, model and VIN for a firm number before we drive out.

What the RF Hub Actually Does

On an older Chrysler-family vehicle, the immobilizer lived at the ignition. First it was the Sentry Key module wrapped around the lock cylinder, then the Wireless Ignition Node, the slot in the dash where a FOBIK went in and turned. When these vehicles moved to push-button start, there was no longer a slot for the electronics to live in, so the job moved to a separate box: the radio frequency hub.

The hub does four things at once:

It receives the remote buttons. Lock, unlock, panic and remote start presses all arrive at the hub as radio signals.
It runs passive entry and push-button start. When you touch the door handle or press the start button, the hub wakes the antennas in the cabin and doors, asks the fob to identify itself, and checks the answer.
It is the immobilizer. The hub holds the list of fobs the vehicle trusts and shares a secret with the engine computer. No valid fob, no permission to start.
On many platforms it also hears the tire pressure sensors. That detail matters for diagnosis, as you will see below.

Because the hub stores the fob list, replacing it resets the vehicle to "no keys at all" as far as the immobilizer is concerned. That is the single fact that explains most of the invoice. If you want the broader picture of how the hub fits beside the engine computer and body computer, our overview of ECM computer programming walks through which module owns which job.

Which Vehicles Have an RF Hub

Roughly speaking, a Chrysler-family vehicle with a start button and a fob that stays in your pocket has an RF hub. The ones we see most around Annetta, Aledo and Weatherford:

Ram 1500 with push-button start, both the earlier body style sold through the 2010s and later as the Classic, and the redesigned truck from 2019 on.
Ram 2500 and 3500 on push-button trims.
Jeep Grand Cherokee from the mid 2010s on, and the Jeep Cherokee from 2014.
Jeep Wrangler JL from 2018 and the Gladiator.
Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger and Chrysler 300 on their push-button years.
Dodge Durango on push-button trims.
Chrysler Pacifica and the Voyager.

Exact changeover years differ model by model, and some vehicles from the transition years kept the dash slot with a start button sitting in it. Those are Wireless Ignition Node vehicles, not RF hub vehicles, and the job is priced differently. If yours still has a slot the fob fits into, the WIN ignition module replacement cost page is the one that applies. We settle which system you have from the VIN on the phone, at no charge.

Symptoms That Point at the RF Hub

A hub rarely dies silently. It usually announces itself in one of five ways.

"Key Fob Not Detected" with a good battery

The most common complaint. You press the start button and the cluster says the fob is not detected, even after a fresh coin cell. If holding the fob against the start button lets the engine start, the fob's transponder is alive and the long-range side of the system is what failed. That narrows things toward the hub, a cabin antenna, or the fob's own transmitter.

Remote buttons quit, on every fob

One fob with dead buttons is a fob problem. Two fobs that both stop locking and unlocking on the same day is a receiver problem, and the receiver is the hub. This is the simplest free test an owner can run: try the spare. Our guide to fob buttons that work when the car will not start covers the opposite pattern, where the radio side is fine and the immobilizer side is not.

Tire pressure warning at the same time

On platforms where the hub also receives tire pressure sensor signals, a hub that is going deaf produces a tire pressure system warning alongside the fob complaints. Fob problems plus a tire pressure fault with four correctly inflated tires is a strong hint that the shared receiver is the cause.

Intermittent no-crank

The vehicle starts fine for a week, refuses twice in one morning, then behaves again. Intermittent hub failures are often moisture or a marginal connector rather than a dead board, which is why the hub's location and the condition of its connector get inspected before a new part is ordered.

No-start after water gets in

On pickup trucks, the hub commonly sits on the back wall of the cab behind the rear seat. That is directly below the rear window and the high-mounted brake light, both of which are known leak paths as seals age. Water tracking down the back wall reaches the hub and its connector. After a week of heavy rain, a truck that will not recognize either fob and has a damp carpet behind the rear seat is telling you where to look.

Not every one of these complaints ends at the hub. The body computer, a wiring fault, a weak vehicle battery and a failed fob can each imitate parts of the picture, and the list of BCM failure symptoms overlaps more than most owners expect. That overlap is why diagnosis comes before any part is ordered.

Why Diagnosis Comes First

An RF hub is one of the more expensive ways to be wrong. The part is not cheap, it is VIN-specific, and on many platforms a hub that has been programmed to a vehicle cannot simply be returned or reused on another. Ordering one on a guess is how a three-figure problem becomes a four-figure one.

A proper diagnosis for $95 to $180, applied toward the repair, answers four questions:

Do both fobs fail the same way? If the spare works, the hub is almost certainly fine.
Does the hub answer on the network? A scan of every module shows whether the hub is present and talking, silent, or reporting internal faults.
Is the hub getting power and ground? A corroded connector or a blown supply fuse makes a healthy hub look dead.
What does the hub itself report? Stored fault codes distinguish an antenna circuit from a fob that is not registered from an internal failure.

Sometimes the answer is cheaper than a hub. A stored key list that has been scrambled by a voltage event can be put right with an immobilizer reset and a fob relearn. A corroded connector can be cleaned and sealed. A single failed antenna is a smaller part. We would rather find those than sell a module.

What Replacement Involves

When the hub genuinely has failed, the job runs in a fixed order.

Sourcing the right part

Hubs are not interchangeable across models, years or even option packages. The frequency the fobs use, whether the vehicle has passive entry on all doors, and whether remote start was fitted all change the part number. The correct hub is identified from the VIN, and that is the price we quote before ordering.

Installation

The old hub comes out and the new one goes in. On a truck that means the rear seat back and a trim panel. On an SUV or sedan the hub can be at the rear of the cabin or behind interior trim. Access time is part of what separates the low end of the range from the high end.

Marrying the hub to the vehicle

The new hub and the engine computer have to agree on a shared secret before the engine computer will accept a start request. Establishing that requires the vehicle's security PIN and a programming session with the vehicle.

Professional locksmiths obtain vehicle security information through the NASTF Vehicle Security Professional registry, the industry channel manufacturers use to release security data to credentialed people after ownership is verified. That is why we ask for the registration or title and a matching photo ID before any immobilizer work. It protects you, and it is the requirement that stops a stolen truck from being re-keyed in a parking lot.

Getting through the gateway

Chrysler-family vehicles from about 2018 on carry a secure gateway module that sits between the diagnostic connector and the rest of the vehicle network. It blocks unauthenticated tools from writing to modules. Programming a hub on those vehicles requires authenticated access through the gateway. It is routine, but it is an extra step and it is one reason later vehicles sit higher in the range. Our Ram 1500 secure gateway and RF hub programming walkthrough covers that step on the trucks specifically.

Registering every fob

The last step is the one owners forget to budget for in their heads, although it is included in the programming price: every fob you want to keep has to be registered to the new hub. Bring all of them. A fob left in a drawer at home will not start the vehicle afterward until it is programmed on a later visit.

The Used RF Hub Question

Salvage yards and online listings are full of used hubs at a fraction of the new price. The honest position is that a used hub can work on some vehicles and is a paperweight on others.

A used hub arrives carrying the donor vehicle's secret and the donor's fob list. On earlier push-button platforms, there are procedures that allow a used hub to be reset and matched to a different VIN. On later platforms, the hub locks itself to the first vehicle it is programmed to, and no procedure available to anyone outside the factory will make it accept a second one.

There are other traps besides locking:

Part number mismatch. A hub from a truck with remote start and four-door passive entry is not the same part as one from a base truck. The wrong one may bolt in and never work properly.
The same water damage. A hub pulled from a wrecked truck may have sat under the same leaking rear window that killed yours.
No returns once programmed. A hub that has been through a programming attempt is generally not returnable.

The way to avoid buying a part that cannot be used is to ask before paying for it. Send the year, make, model and VIN along with the part number printed on the used hub. If that combination can be matched, we will say so and quote it. If it cannot, you have saved the price of the part. The Durango RF hub module programming page has more on which combinations tend to work on that platform.

What Changes the Price

Seven variables, all of which can be pinned down before we dispatch.

1. Whether the hub is really the fault. A relearn, a connector repair or a single fob costs far less than a module. Diagnosis at $95 to $180, applied toward the repair, is what protects you from the expensive guess.

2. Platform and year. Earlier push-button vehicles have a shorter programming procedure. Vehicles with a secure gateway add an authentication step. The newest platforms add more.

3. Where the hub sits. A hub behind a truck's rear seat back is a different amount of trim work than one buried at the rear of an SUV. Access is labor.

4. The part. The hub is priced by VIN and varies with the option content of the vehicle. We quote it before ordering so there is no surprise at the end.

5. New or used. A used hub is quoted case by case, and only where the platform allows it to be matched.

6. How many fobs. Relearning your existing fobs is included. A new proximity fob supplied and programmed is $200 to $400 each. If you bought a fob elsewhere, programming it is $85 to $160, provided the part number is right.

7. When. Mobile call-out is included in the quote. Evening, weekend and holiday dispatch is an add-on that is always stated before we drive out.

RF Hub Replacement vs. All Keys Lost

These two jobs get confused on the phone, and they are priced differently.

All keys lost with a healthy hub means the module is fine and the fobs are gone. The hub stays, new fobs are originated and registered, and the job runs $320 to $650 depending on the platform. Nothing is replaced except the fobs.

Hub replacement means the fobs may be perfectly good and the module is what failed. The hub is replaced and married to the vehicle, and the existing fobs are registered to it.

There is one place where the two overlap. On some of the newest platforms, the hub is locked in a way that makes an all-keys-lost job itself involve a replacement hub. Whether that applies to your vehicle is something we establish from the VIN before quoting, so you hear the real number on the first call rather than halfway through the job. For a spare on a vehicle where one fob still works, the simpler job is described in the Jeep Cherokee spare key guide, and it is always the cheapest moment to add a fob.

Stopping It From Happening Again

A replacement hub installed into the conditions that killed the first one will not last. Three checks belong to every hub job:

Find the water. If the old hub shows corrosion, the leak path has to be dealt with. On trucks that usually means the rear window seal or the high-mounted brake light gasket. We will show you where the water came from. The body repair itself is outside locksmith work, but you should not leave without knowing it is needed.

Check the battery and charging. Low system voltage and jump-start surges are hard on modules. A hub replaced on a vehicle with a failing battery is being set up to misbehave.

Inspect the connector. A green, crusted connector will give a new hub the same intermittent supply the old one had. Cleaning and sealing it is part of the job, not an extra.

Other Modules That Get Blamed

Owners often arrive having already been told a different module is at fault. A few that share symptoms with the hub:

The body computer. It runs the door locks and lighting, and a body computer fault can look like a dead remote.
The start button node. The button itself is a small module. A failed button produces a no-start with a perfectly healthy hub.
The engine computer. If the engine computer has been replaced or reflashed and the shared secret no longer matches, the hub will be blamed for a refusal it did not cause.
The transmission computer. Rarely involved in a no-start, but a vehicle that has had a transmission module swapped on a Charger, Challenger, Durango or Ram can arrive with a pile of network codes that muddy the picture. That work is covered under ZF 8HP TCM programming and general TCM programming.

A full-network scan sorts these out in minutes, which is cheaper than replacing them one at a time.

Why Mobile Makes Sense for This Job

A vehicle with a failed hub usually cannot be driven. That leaves two options: tow it to a service bay and wait for a slot, or have the work done where it sits.

Mobile service means the diagnosis, the installation and the programming all happen in your driveway in Annetta, at a job site outside Weatherford, in a parking lot in Hudson Oaks or Willow Park, or at a shop in Benbrook or west Fort Worth. For someone who earns a living out of a Ram, that is the difference between losing a week and losing a day.

It also removes a real cost. From much of Parker County, the tow to a dealer can run a meaningful fraction of the programming price on its own. Our quote covers the drive out and the work, so the number you hear on the phone is the number you pay unless diagnosis finds a different fault and you approve the change.

What the Appointment Looks Like

Phone triage. Year, make, model, VIN and symptoms. We confirm whether the vehicle has an RF hub or a dash-slot ignition, and whether a gateway is involved.
Ownership check. Registration or title and a matching photo ID.
Fob test. Every fob you own is tried, including holding each against the start button.
Network scan. Every module is read. We note whether the hub answers and what it reports.
Power, ground and connector inspection. The hub is accessed and its supply and connector are checked, along with any sign of water.
Decision and price. Relearn, repair or replacement. You get the answer and the number before any further work.
Replacement and programming. The new hub goes in, is married to the vehicle with the PIN, and every fob is registered.
Verification. Several start cycles with each fob, remote buttons and passive entry confirmed on every door, tire pressure system confirmed where it shares the hub, codes cleared.

When the correct part is on hand, most hub jobs finish in a single visit. The usual reason for a second visit is that diagnosis happened first and the VIN-specific hub had to be ordered, which is the right order to do it in.

For routine fob work that does not involve a module, see car key programming, and for the lineup as a whole the Dodge key and fob page covers the common models.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does RF hub module replacement cost in Annetta TX?

As of October 2026, programming a replacement RF hub to the vehicle runs $250 to $550 with the module supplied, and that includes relearning your existing fobs. Diagnosis is $95 to $180 and is applied toward the repair. The hub itself is priced by VIN and quoted before it is ordered, and a new proximity fob is $200 to $400 if you need one.

What are the symptoms of a bad RF hub?

The common ones are a Key Fob Not Detected message with a fresh fob battery, remote buttons that stop working on every fob at once, an intermittent no-crank, and on many platforms a tire pressure system warning at the same time. On pickups, a damp carpet behind the rear seat alongside those symptoms points at water reaching the hub.

Can I replace the RF hub myself?

You can physically swap it, but the vehicle will not start afterward. A replacement hub has to be married to the vehicle with the security PIN and every fob has to be registered to it. On vehicles from about 2018 on, the programming also requires authenticated access through the secure gateway.

Will a used RF hub from a salvage yard work?

On some earlier push-button platforms, yes. On later ones the hub locks to the first vehicle it is programmed to and cannot be matched to another. Send the year, make, model, VIN and the part number on the used hub before buying, and we will say whether that combination can be programmed.

Do I need new key fobs when the RF hub is replaced?

Usually not. Your existing fobs are registered to the new hub, and that relearn is included in the programming price. You only need a new fob if one is damaged or lost, at $200 to $400 supplied and programmed. Bring every fob you own to the appointment.

Is a failed RF hub the same as all keys lost?

No. With all keys lost and a healthy hub, the module stays and new fobs are made, at $320 to $650. With a failed hub, the fobs may be fine and the module is replaced. On some of the newest platforms the two overlap, which we establish from the VIN before quoting.

Why do you need my VIN and proof of ownership?

The hub's part number depends on the VIN, and marrying it to the vehicle requires the security PIN, which is released to credentialed professionals only after ownership is verified. Bring the registration or title and a photo ID that matches it.

Do I need a tow for RF hub replacement?

No. The service is mobile across Annetta, Weatherford, Aledo, Willow Park, Hudson Oaks, Benbrook, Fort Worth and the rest of Parker County. The diagnosis, installation and programming are all done where the vehicle is parked.

Get the Diagnosis Before the Part

If your Ram, Jeep, Dodge or Chrysler says the fob is not detected, or the remote buttons have quit on both fobs, one visit establishes whether you need a relearn, a connector repair, a fob, or a hub. Call or text (817) 813-9396 for RF hub diagnosis and programming in Annetta, Weatherford, Aledo, Willow Park, Hudson Oaks, Benbrook and Fort Worth.

Article written by the Annetalocksmith Automotive Locksmith Team. Reviewed by a working automotive locksmith technician.