Help My key fob works at a distance to lock the car Inside it is not recognized Changed battery recently Am I in big trouble
nope. I made sure to have it out, but the car still insisted on having the fob ouch the power button. New information: at home now, my other key fob works as it is supposed to. What's odd is that the problematic fob works to open and close doors so the battery is not dead. Thanks
There is a two way communication between the keyfob and the car. When the car is OFF and LOCKED, the car repeatedly broadcasts a "is my keyfob out there?" query. When a keyfob hears such a request, it replies with "I'm here". Once the "I'm here" reply is accepted, the door handle can be touched to unlock. If you press a button on the keyfob, the "is my keyfob out there?" message is not used. The same process happens when you're inside the car with it turned OFF. The interior car transmitter keeps saying "is my keyfob out there?", and the keyfob is supposed to reply "I'm here". It is possible for a keyfob to fail to hear the announcement from the car, but still be able to send a "key pressed" message. The first thing to try is to replace the battery in the keyfob (the current one appears weak, even if it is new). If that doesn't work, then the keyfob is probably defective. Another possibility is that something is messed up in the programming of the car/keyfob. Someone with the proper scantool (dealer or locksmith) may be able to reestablish the keyfob credentials.
The possibility of a fob sending a message but not receiving one was one of the possibilities I was looking for. I will try even newer batteries, and if that doesn't work, see about the credentialing issues. Thanks
Is their someone else riding with you who has a key fob from a different prius? My buddy has a problem when I ride in his prius, his car picks up my key fob signal and will not start, it gives the no key detected message. I hold my key fob out the window and then his car reads his fob and then it works just fine. Have not had this problem with anyone else's car. Just his, kind of strange. I can duplicate this with his car every time! Hope this helps!
Fortunately it doesn't seem to be this complicated--no other car's fob in my car. That is strange though. I'm hoping it's just a weak new battery as Rob H thinks.
