Hi all. New here and looking for some help. New here because I need help.

I changed the battery in my car (not the key, the 12v car battery). After changing the batter the car no longer recognizes the key. I'm guessing the issue is that I left it without any power for ~30 mins. This car has a physical key, not a fob. I'm assuming the key is chipped and the car somehow lost it's memory of the chip ID (or something similar).

I'm feeling incredibly stupid for not checking before removing the battery. I've never had this issue with a battery change before, but should have checked first. If this thing has to get towed to the dealer I'm going to be really even more mad at myself.

Q&A for likely questions
Q: Do you have another key.
A: No. This is the car for our kids. They lost the 2nd one. If the car forgot the key ID it wouldn't help.

Q: Maybe the key is bad?
A: Could be. 1 in 1,000,000 chance they key went bad exactly when I changed they battery.

Q: The key was working fine before?
A: Yes, I jump started it right before removing the battery.

Q: Why do you think the key isn't working?
A: I'm seeing the red flashing car with a key on the dash. It just flashes once, or maybe very slowly.

Q: Is the steering wheel locked?
A: No.

Q: Did you try putting it in neutral, just in case?
A: Yes.

Wanted to follow up with a resolution on this one. It was an odd, 1 in 1 million situation. First of all, for some reason the alarm stopped working when I changed the battery. Dealer has no idea why. They said weird stuff can happen. Simple ECU reset to fix it. But on that car the ECU reset is via the ignition. My ignition would't turn.

The key was bad. Not the chip - the physical key. The odd thing is that it has never given me any problems. So it worked fine. 30 minutes later after I replaced the battery it decided to stop working. That's the 1 in a million thing. Crazy concurrence of events.