I was at walmart today and FINALLY remembered to get a couple keys made for my 02 prius. I have been taking somewhat of a gamble considering I only got 1 key when I bought it. I tried the keys in the trunk. Cha Ching! Unlocked and locked the doors. Cha Ching! Put the key in the ignition and turned it. Cha Ching! Went to start the car and Nothing!! I could turn the car into accessory and into the run position, but it would not put the car in ready mode. At first I thought my battery died. I took a deep breath and put the "Toyota" key in and she started right up... Does the 2002 prii have a chip in the black plastic handle of the key? When I had my Grand Prix GTP, it had a chip in the metal key part that goes into the ignition, I searched online and at Pontiac dealerships and they were wanting $30 or more for an extra. I checked with the local locksmith and he hooked me up with a chipped key and it worked fine for $12. Would my local locksmith have these keys? It isn't a key fob like the Gen 2+ it is a regular key like any other vehicle would have...
For sure it has a chip, it must have 2 master keys and one sub-key. I registered mine only with a procedure that learns the immobilizer the key-code.
Yes. You have a couple of options. 1. You can get a regular chipped key for the car from a dealer ($50ish?) or ebay ($15ish?). The key comes with its own code that can't be changed. You teach the car to recognize the key. The car can learn up to three keys at any given time. If you ever lose a key, you can tell the car not to recognize it anymore, and then you aren't worried who finds it. If you find it, you can tell the car to allow it again. 2. Many locksmiths can sell you a clone-type key. This has a code that is writeable. The locksmith can read the code off your existing key and write the same code into the new key. You don't have to teach the car anything, and the car can't tell any difference between the keys. So there is no limit to how many keys like this you can have. If you lose one, you can't tell the car to cancel it (unless you want to cancel all the keys you have with the same code). The one key you got with the car could be programmed into the car as a master or a sub. You can only program new keys if the one you have is a master (or you have the ECU reflashed to make it a master, which is an involved process). See this post for how to tell whether your existing key is programmed as master or sub, and info on how you would do the programming. -Chap
