2011 Prius Help with FOB keys both dead

not that i recall reading, and idk what a 'nearly dead' circuit board is.

try to find a locksmith who might be able to help, or another dealer.

did the fob battery last from 8/12 until now? if so, that's a pretty good run

 

?

 

It sounds fishy to me. Is there any chance either FOB was completely submerged in water? Do all the buttons work freely and pop back up to their normal positions? Was either FOB stored in some tight place with an object possibly pressed against a button for a prolonged time? Were they stored in a corrosive atmosphere, maybe near pool chemicals? If none of the above, I don't see why the circuit board could fail.

 

Well, circuit boards don’t just “go dead”. A trace might burn up if overloaded, boards are fragile and can break, resistors can fail, and the most likely winner: capacitors fail. Capacitors are the most suspect as they do kinda have a finite life. But most places don’t know how or what to fix, therefore “the entire board is toast” is the answer. Surface mount capacitors are more challenging to replace than through board as a hot-air rework station is really preferred.

That, however, doesn’t answer your question. I wouldn’t think your second FOB would drain all that quickly either, but it’s hard to really have an opinion as we don’t know all the details of where/how it was stored. Is it close to the car, far away? Stored in the garage damp environment, in the house in a drawer? Has it ever been wet or dropped in water? Lots of variables to assume manufacture defect at this time.

Also what kind of batteries were used? I know I got some from amazon on the cheap that barely lasted a year.

The fact they have it on record that you were having issues, you could push the envelope and say they weren’t fixed the first time. They need to test the boards and tell you how you would have caused a failure.


-Spiral

 

fob batteries typically last 3-5 years

 

it's basically a brand new fob then. but since you never used it, you don't have a track record like the one you use.

 

Well, capacitors do fail with or without use. I’ll still agree that having both fail is suspect in so many ways. Not to be a buzz kill, but 8 year old FOBs I don’t think you’ll get much help from Toyota. I hope you do though!

Without going back and re-reading. If you replace the batteries they do work correctly? Just a short amount of time than you’d like? because you can buy a LOT of high quality batteries for $547!


-Spiral

 

take it apart, clean it (search here for methods) and make sure all the buttons work properly. install a battery with a reading of 3.3 volts

 

and it should still start the car with a dead, or no battery

 

agreed, i would be also

 

i had no idea capacitors fail. still, you don't here much about fob problems here until someone drops theirs in the water or some such

 

2 years ago I bought a new keyfob for my 2015 from a local locksmith, and he programmed it for a total of about $175. Don't get your replacements from the stealorship!