My wife's purse was recently stolen, along with both Smart Keys to our Gen II Priuses. Subsequent I purchased two Smart Keys on EBay and took these used keys and both family Priuses to one of our city's best Toyota dealerships for re-programming. An hour after the reprogramming exercise began, the service manager came to the waiting room to say that the EBay-acquired smart keys could not be used on either car: "Our scan tool 'hears' and shows both EBay keys on its display panel. We can confirm that their batteries are good and they successfully transmit radio signals. However, the scan tool believes that the keys are not compatible with either the 2006 or 2009 Priuses you brought in. The scan tool refuses to register these keys to either of your cars...". I do not believe that the service manager was silently nudging me to buy new keys from his parts department. In fact, he did not even mention buying all-new keys. It was not a busy day at his garage and I did not force the service appointment on him. He graciously refused my offer to pay for the 1.5+ hour his technician spent on my problem: "I shouldn't charge you because I was unable to help you..." The problematic EBay keys are identical in all respects to my remaining "good" smart keys. Same silver logo on the rear cover of the keys. Same MDL/FCC/IC numbers on the inside tags on the battery covers. Any ideas on this problem from savvy Priuschat readers? By the way, this dealership charges a flat $45 to re-register a smart key. Several of the other dealerships in town quote minimum 1 hour of labor.
You can't get a used SKS fob to work as an SKS. Once a fob has been used x times, a car connot be programmed to accept it. Your only choice, if you want full SKS features, is to purchase new fobs from the dealer and have them program the car to accept them. You should also have them remove the old fobs during the program so that the stolen ones cannot be used on your car.
Thanks for the reply, Firepa63. After I posted my original inquiry I did a more thorough search of this topic on all of PriusChat's forums. I found one thread that said that my problem is well known. The thead went on to say that the "I'm a mature key" flag inside a used SKS can be reset to "I'm a virgin key" using the scan tool if the dealer's tech calls Toyota Corporate and obtains a new "seed number" from a desk that Toyota has established for that purpose. I remember when I contacted several local Toyota dealerships to obtain quotes for reprogramming my keys, one justified his high estimate with the comment "I have to call Toyota and sit on hold while they issue me a new seed...". That sounded like gibberish at the time but now the remark makes sense. Can you confirm that a bona fide dealer tech can call Toyota and obtain a new SKS "seed" to give new life to a used one? The price a new key is nearly $200 plus programming charge. Used keys are currently selling on EBay for <$50.
Yes. Not all dealers can do this, but the ones that can pay for the service and have to make a phone call to get a new seed. Tom
I am researching this very topic. Check out this info on this site: Adding, deleting, and replacing Prius Smart Keys I felt being held hostage by Toyota and these dealers. People looses key all the time, and to go thru this song & dance is just ridiculous. I have heard that there is two steps, one to program the Immobilizer so the used fob will start the car but without any smart & clicker function. The second program is to program the Smart feature, and this is a more difficult process. Please keep us posted, Tx Pb
