Water Sports and Key Fobs

Can you carry the fob in a small zip up plastic bag? I hear they are pretty well sealed. There are stories on PC of people putting them in water and working fine.

 

After examining the inside of the fob, I'd say that it's water-resistant rather than water-proof. There's a little O-ring that seals the battery compartment pretty well, but I'm not sure I'd trust it to be underwater for a long time.

You actually did not need to wrap your key fob in aluminum foil (or, since pat is apparently reading this thread, "aluminium foil"). With the SKS off, the car doesn't try to talk to the fob, so there's no danger that someone could steal the car unless they found the fob and put it in the slot. More importantly, you can lock the car with the fob in it if you turn of the SKS.

So, if I were you, I'd do the following: turn off the SKS, hide the fob in some reasonable place (i.e. in the center console, in the "smuggling compartment" in the cargo area) and take the metal key with you. The fob would probably be OK getting dunked a few times in the water, but I don't think it's worth the worry.

 

Mine went through a wash with a load of clothes. I expected it to never work again, however it still works perfectly.

 

When I go running, I only carry a mechanical key. Actually, it's a $2 copy of the keyfob mechanical key that I got duplicated at a hardware store. The keyfob is just too fragile and expensive to risk losing it while doing sports. I have several extra mechanical keys that are available to hand out to other people who are with me, so they have the option of getting into the car if they get back first.

The mechanical key gets me into the car, and then I use a transponder-only keyfob to start it. A transponder-only keyfob is any keyfob with the battery removed. Any Prius keyfob will do, including wrong year and black logo units. The keyfob has to be inserted into the keyslot in the dash to start the car. Since the battery has been removed, I don't have to play any of the aluminum foil or disable-switch games in order to leave the keyfob in the car.

Now, what I'd really like is a combination lock for the door, so I wouldn't have to even carry a key. Maybe a morse code recognizer for the lock button... And a fingerprint reader for the ignition...

 

Out sailing I got dumped in the drink, and like an idiot I had my keys in my pocket. I wasn't in the water for very long, but the keys were totally submerged for a number of seconds at least (maybe 30). I didn't experience any problems, but I also haven't made the same mistake twice. Defo not the kind of thing I'd go testing on a regular basis.

 

Hey guys I have a useful fix. Buy a real estate type combination lock, I use a Master Access lock like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Master-Lock-Set-Your-Own-Combination-5400D/dp/B0002YP1VC

Disable the smart key (if you have one) lock the car, put the fob in the combination lock (locked on to the door handle) and go surfing, swimming, snowboarding, waterskiing etc.

Hope this helps.
Ashley

 

It may pay to slide the back off, just the slide off bit without undoing screws and dip it in fresh water a couple of times then dry before assembly if it was in salt water. This might save the heads of the screws.
Another way to protect the fob in your pocket is seal it in a good quality zip up plastic bag. It has a pretty good O ring seal.

 

Me too. Wife washed hers. Only through the washer not the dryer and works perfect. Pretty good seal on it. Now salt water is a whole other problem. If salted it should be taken apart immed. and cleaned.

 

Wait a min... are you saying that someone else's Prius keyfob could start my car?

 

No. Only that the Prius can be programmed to accept any specific keyfob.

But if, for example, you have two Prius, then you could program each car to accept the other car's keyfob in the keyslot. Programming the button/proximity functions would be dicey, but no problem with the transponders.

 

For the hard core, here's a link to pictures of the inside of a keyfob. The transponder is the only part that is used for the keyslot function. http://priuschat.com/forums/care-ma...32-can-metal-key-duplicated-2.html#post513097

 

A lot of sports/outdoors prius people have the Curt or Coastal hitch, if you have a hitch then you could use one of these:

http://www.hitchsafe.com/

It's a little combination lock box that slides and locks into your receiver hitch. It only fits a 2" hitch so you'd have to have the Coastal 2" hitch or a 2" adapter for a Curt hitch (meaning it would stick out a little further) but would probably hide pretty well under the car and be virtually unnoticeable, it even has a big rubber "dust cover" that makes it look inconspicuous. It's supposed to be big enough to fit credit cards, drivers licences, keys, etc... All of this presuming that you don't have your bike rack or other accessory loaded on the hitch.

Aside from that, without having to spend any money I'd just hide the FOB in the car... or even smarter, maybe pop the hood and hide it in the air filter box or something, nobody would ever find it there, and just carry the manual key on you to open the drivers door.

 

This is exactly what I have done on my 2003 and will be doing on my 2009 as I have the Coastal 2" receiver hitches but have never used them for towing or racks. This "safe" is very unobtrusive with the rubber cap on such that it does not call attention to itself. I have used this feature often when I go shore diving as I've heard of other divers who "hid" their keys but found their vehicle had been entered and ransacked or even stolen in one case.

 

Hi everyone, I have a new 2010 prius where apparently you cannot disable the smart key. I have tried foil, and the master key lock together( putting the fob inside the master lock without foil does not stop the fob from working despite the fact that it seems to be a metal casing inside) but the fob barely fits in, and when I add foil, the lock barely opened twice, I needed to use another key as a lever to open the master lock. So, fob wrapped in foil foil inside the master lock seems sketchy.

anyone have any other ideas to be able to leave my fob inside the car while I surf? thanks.

 

Wow. Double wrapping a Gen2 keyfob in aluminum foil works. But the 2010 keyfob has 3 times the range of a Gen2. Either the 2010 keyfob puts out 3X the signal, or the receiver on the car is a lot more sensitive, or both. In any case, doesn't look like aluminum foil does the job for the 2010.

You could take the battery out of a keyfob. That will kill the SKS and button functions. The mechanical key will lock/unlock the doors. The transponder in the keyfob will still unlock the Power button when held next to it.

Take the mechanical key (or better yet, a copy) with you in the surf. The disabled keyfob can be left anywhere you want in the car, preferably some place that isn't that obvious.

As an experiment, you might want to see if a Gen2 keyfob transponder can be paired with a 2010 vehicle. A $50 used one off eBay is the goal, but you could experiment with someone else's (careful who you choose, because if it works then they have a key to your Power button...). Try the first procedure in http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...lly-how-program-non-sks-key-fob-detailed.html

Or you could pay a dealer to try it with a scantool. Expensive, and you'll probably run into a brick wall before they ever try it. Oh, I see you're in the Bay Area (SF?). In that case go to either Luscious Garage in SF, or Art's in Berkeley. They both would probably like to try the experiment themselves, and the price would be about $50. Call them both - maybe they've already done the experiment.

 

Thanks Rob H on several accounts. The other posts were about the earlier models, and I was not sure how your ideas would work because there is no key slot in the 2010. I will try luscious garage and see what they say.

So if I use the garage do I need to buy the fob first, or do they do it with the scan tool whatever that is?

BTW, it does work (stop functioning) with foil inside the master lock, but that seems like a big hassle with he frequency I surf, and what if the foil develops a tear if I reuse it etc.

I am also tempted to just buy the coastal hitch, and use the little secret box for the key fob.

 

Take a look at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...n/31787-2007-prius-smart-key-programming.html , particularly my post #34. There is a possibility that a transponder key designed for another Toyota may be usable to unlock the Power button on a 2010 Prius. It's just an idea at this point, but it would be worth floating it with the folks at Luscious Garage.

As for buying a new keyfob, the cheapest place is probably Auto Parts - Parts.com, For Every Part of Your Life . You'll have to talk to them about a 2010 keyfob, as their database only went up to 2009 the last time I checked.

The advantage of buying a new keyfob from the people who program it is that you don't pay until it works. If you come in with a keyfob that you purchased elsewhere and it doesn't work, you're at least out the programming charge. If a dealer tech can't make a new keyfob work, he'll just return it to the parts department and try another one. I'd buy the cheapest one I could find, and take the risk. But that's just my style. If you want a solid guarantee, then you'll have to pay the higher price.

I'm hoping that Luscious will be able to make a Toyota transponder key type 4D work with the 2010. Let us know how it goes.