My main key ring is pretty heavy. It contains the fob for my vehicle, house keys, gate keys, and keys to our storage unit. Other than when it makes a slightly annoying jingle, I’ve never given it much thought. However, I recently learned that your vehicle’s key or fob should be on their own key ring – with nothing else on it. Let’s get into the why.

According to Jack McKenzie of AutoAccessoriesGarage.com, “Too many keys on your key ring can damage the sensitive interior components of your ignition cylinder. Your ignition cylinder really wasn’t engineered to hold much weight on it, and when you hang a heavy key ring from your ignition, every bump, turn, and vibration will slowly but surely wear down the delicate inner elements.”

As a result, the strain placed on the key or fob could cause you to be locked out of your car, cause issues starting your car, or even cause ignition issues when the car is in motion. “My husband, years ago, had probably three dozen keys on his ring,” explained Lauren Milligan. “The weight shifted around the ignition so badly that while he was driving, he could pull the key out of the ignition and continue to drive. Before that happened, my husband’s mechanic warned him plenty of times about how his key ring was too heavy.” Scary stuff!

Who would have thought that something seemingly so small and insignificant could have such a big potential impact on our vehicles and safety? Not me! Although this is very new information to me, I’m now going to go through our vehicle ignition keys and ensure they live on a separate key ring from all of the others. I encourage you to follow suit!