SKS: Cannot use outside the car when Power On

My Sedona, an 06, will NOT allow you to use the FOB if you leave the key in the ignition, and the car running. It's not just Toyota, and I'd be willing to be a host of other manufacturers don't allow for this for all the variant of reasons given above.

 

Along the same line, before the days of remote key fobs, most American cars allowed you to lock the driver's door and then shut it. This was convenient, but also made it easy to lock your keys in the car. Most Japanese cars didn't allow this, or if they did, it took an undocumented method to override the interlock.

Perhaps this shows a consistent difference in mind set between Japanese designers and American designers.

Tom

 

I think my 86 Civic did this, but I KNOW my 93 Accord did. You had to lift up on the exterior driver side door handle while hitting the electric lock all doors button in order to get the drivers side to lock. However, I still locked my keys in each car at least once since I could circumvent this prevention .

 

Question about what happens when the car is in "Remote Ready" mode (remote start is active). Does SKS or the remote unlock button work then? Does the car turn off when the door unlocks, or when you actually open it?

 

My brother learned about this undocumented trick one morning, and by afternoon he had locked his keys inside of his Honda. It was record fast work.

Tom

 

Here's a scenario that is real and is important for a % of car owners. It's late spring...up through late summer and almost into fall. Outside temps range from 75 up to 95. You're out driving and you have your dog with you. You need to run into the store & grab a couple items, which will take you about 5 or 10 min tops. You need to:

- Keep the dog in the car
- Keep the AC fully running

Now on my current car (a '98 Saab 900 SE), I keep the car on and running, use the emergency brake, and then use another key to manually lock the doors AND turn the key to engage the central locking system (turning the key all the way to the right). Dog is safe; AC is on & car is running, and I can run that quick errand if necessary.

 

In the Prius, you leave the car in "Ready" and use the mechanical key to lock the door (if you want). Good idea to leave a note that says dog is ok, because the ICE (internal combustion engine) won't run continuously, just when the HV battery charge gets low enough. The AC compressor runs off the HV battery.

In real life, I don't bother locking the car - I don't think anyone will try to get in with two dogs barking at them. :madgrin:

 

I lock mine because my dog would let anyone in the car (she's a golden retriever who sits in the front seat like a passenger) and I just could never take the chance.

But I'm happy to know it can be done in the Prius; when I eventually get one I will be sure and have a note that announces AC is on & dog is fine.

Now let's see if Toyota gets the squeaks & rattles worked out over the next year before I purchase. My 12 yr old Saab is still as solid as the day I got it, with no rattles at all. Oh and it came with 6-way heated power leather seats with lumbar support and is amazingly comfortable. 12/13 years later I would have thought such creature comforts were standard.

 

I too have been irritated by the failure to unlock as described by the OP. I see no problem in having the SKS being able to open the hatch or passenger door when the car is in Ready mode. Several times I've gotten out of the car to check something in the back and forgotten to push the all unlock button on the driver's door. Being an SKS addict I assume that whenever I reach for the hatch it will open, as the SKS fob never leaves my pocket. After all that's the beauty of the system especially with the 3 door SKS function.

I don't care about the lock function only the unlock and I don't see any argument why that can't work with the car in Ready mode. Since the unlock works from the door button, why not the SKS fob???

 

Hey, direstraits71 & ramdulari,

As I had it explained to me by my dealer, if you haven't already unlocked ALL doors before placing your Prius in "Ready" mode, the reason your passenger door & hatch won't unlock is to help prevent car-jacking or "luggage"-jacking (as sometimes happens in a NYC-type traffic jam---thieves come up to a car, pop the hatch, & make off with your bags & other what-nots you may store back there). That can't happen in the Prius to a lone driver (unless you unlocked all doors before you started the car).

So this aspect of NOT unlocking is kind of a safety feature too. Think of your wife or child getting into the car in a dark parking lot somewhere. As long as they only unlock the driver's door, they will be much safer, since most car-jackers will usually try to jump in the front passenger door & push you out (or brandish a weapon to keep you in for whatever ungodly reason).

If you need to open the hatch or one of the other doors while the car is in "Ready" mode, just simply press the unlock button on the driver's door armrest as you get out (that's what I do).

Ken (in Bolton,Ct).

 

Assuming the car is in ready and the doors/hatch are locked how could anyone open the hatch when they don't have the SKS key fob? The car knows where the fob is, and the hatch wouldn't open if the fob is not sensed as being within the hatch sensor area. If I get out of my car and have the fob in my pocket the hatch should be programmed to open with the fob within the hatch sensor area when I go to open it. No one without the fob for the car could open it as the hatch says "no fob present". Same goes for the passenger door.

This only applies to the 3 door SKS system though.

 

I don't believe they can open either. What's more they can't even open them with the fob, which was I would want to be able to do. I can't think of any problem with this at all. Not being able to lock the car while in Ready keeps you from locking your fob in the car. I think that's a good idea, but why you can't unlock in Ready that's what I see no risk to.

 

Posters on this thread are confusing two issues:

1) Which doors are automatically unlocked when the driver's door is opened via SKS.

and

2) Why the SKS will not unlock doors on a running Prius.

These are unrelated issues, other than they both involve doors and the SKS.

For #1 above, there is a user changeable setting which controls which doors are automatically unlocked when you open the driver's door via the SKS. The default is to only unlock the driver's door. As pointed out in previous threads, this is done for safety reasons. Some owners choose to have all of the doors unlock for convenience.

For #2, it remains a mystery why the SKS will not unlock a door in a running Prius. You can contrive some pretty weird situations involving a battered spouse hiding inside the car, but none of them are any different than having two mechanical keys.

Tom

 

This is really not a discussion because it is the same with all cars. Please show me a car that you can lock with the fob while the engine is running.

Basically, when the car is on, the fob does not work. It is a safety feature. So your son, playing with your fob, does not unlock the door and pop the trunk (in the Prius you can't pop the trunk but this is a general discussion) when you are driving. So your wife, while searching through her purse, does not unlock the door while you are zooming down the freeway. So the horn does not start blaring when you accidentally trigger the fob in your pocket when reaching for a cell phone and driving 75 mph. A trunk popping at 65 mph and unloading a suitcase on the freeway will incur a huge liability on Toyota (I am just talking about all cars). A kid falling out of the car because it was unlocked on freeway speed would also be a liability. Of course, you can say they should be using safety belts. However, in NJ today, the back seat passengers are not required to have belts. Dumb people drive cars too.

The system in the Prius, or any car, cannot be so good as to figure out whether the fob is in or out. The Prius tries, but it is not 100% accurate. Basically, what if the window is open, can the sensor tell? What if you press the fob close to the window, can the sensor tell if it is in or out, the difference between one side of the window and the other side is half an inch or about 1 cm. The sensors are not that accurate. And if the sensor is that accurate, what if it is miscalibrated?

If things are set the way you want. And if you come home and your wife, with the fob does not want to see you, she can basically keep her finger on the lock position and you won't be able to get out of the car.

It is the way it is, so that the driver, the guy in the driver seat, has full control regardless of who is outside the car. That's the way it should be. A car is not designed to be controlled by two people at the same time.

And if you want to keep the car running, ask the passenger to lean forward to lock the car themselves. A passenger too old, too young, too weak to reach forward and lock the car should not be left in a running car anyway. Somebody can break the window and drive away with your old, young, weak passenger.

I can go on and on but I hope you get the idea.

So why would Toyota design a feature that is not available in any car? To see their insurance go up in case of an accident?