As far as I know, the valet key CAN be used, but like MJL said you need to saw the thing in half along its border. It's really 2 sides glued together, and IIRC the chip is in the centre of the valet key's head (key continues into the head and then forms a "loop or ring" inside the head, with the chip in the centre, if that makes sense).
As far as Acura doing the programming they "might" be able to do it...but there is a guy who works at Acura on G7A who said that Acura's computers are not able to read Honda VINs and Honda's computers can't read Acura's VINs. I think they said the reason was to keep Acura buyers going to Acura, and also because every key cut for an Acura has to be reported to the head office in case of vehicular theft (so everything is on record for them). Still, that shouldn't stop a Honda place from doing the cutting/programming for you.
I'll have to call a few Honda dealerships close to me and see what they charge for cutting and programming...if I get lucky and programming is only $10 more or something then I'll just have them do everything, however if its like I suspect (where it is about double for them to program as well as cut), then I'll definitely be doing this mod.
BTW, I'll post a link to this thread on TorontoAccords too as I know a lot of them have been waiting for a write-up/tutorial just like this one. Thanks again MJL...
