A twist on the usual SKS & non-SKS fob questions

We're looking at a 2005 Prius. The car seems fine, but the SKS fobs look like they've been beaten to death-- dings & scratches on the cases, rubber buttons worn away to expose the electronics. The owner is apologetic and relatively clueless on cars yet firm on the price. I'm not going to scuttle a $17K transaction over a few hundred bucks of hardware, but I'm curious about the alternatives.


As ugly as the SKS fobs look, they seem to work fine. The damage appears to be mechanical, not electronic. Does a dealer sell new fob cases or rubber buttons, or is it possible to buy any ol' fob from eBay (functional or not, SKS or not) and swap the cases? I guess I'd want to put new batteries in them, too. The current owner takes the car to the dealer every six months ("Here's my credit card, let me know when it's ready") and the beat-up SKS fobs are probably on their original batteries.


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Different fob question. Our 2006 Prius is a non-SKS car. I dutifully read this board's non-SKS thread(s), bought a third non-SKS fob off eBay, and programmed it to unlock & start the car. This third fob is hidden in the car. I had a locksmith cut a $2 key (a regular ol' Toyota car door key, not a fob key) to carry in my key pocket when I'm surfing. It's nice to have the door key with you in case your backpack leaves the beach... or in case your fob accidentally paddles out with you.


Given how I use the third hidden non-SKS fob and door key on our 2006, I'm not sure it's worth the cost/hassle of obtaining a third SKS fob to hide in the 2005.


Instead I might buy a non-SKS fob off eBay, program it to run the 2005 SKS car (with the fob in the dashboard slot) and hide that in the car. (http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/65289-key-fobs-sks-car-non-sks-fob.html) Then I'd have the locksmith cut another spare door key (a regular ol' Toyota car key) for my key pocket.



Of course an even cheaper idea would be to just hide the second SKS fob in the 2005 instead of buying a third hideway non-SKS fob. However I'm not sure how to electronically shield a hidden SKS fob to keep it from communicating with the car. But that's a moot point-- spouse wants to carry her own SKS fob with her so I still need a third fob.


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A yet still even cheaper solution to the above questions would be a capability of programming the fobs to run both the 2006 and the 2005 Priuses. Can a SKS fob or a non-SKS fob be programmed to run either of two different Priuses from the dashboard slots? That would be way too convenient.



Am I missing any other critical info or steps with these ideas?

 

Right, I read your thread, and yes it's an impressive accomplishment, but I'm not planning to program a used or new SKS fob for SKS functions.

I'd rather not program a SKS fob at all, but I'm willing to try sitting in the front seat banging doors and playing with dashboard buttons if it'll give me a fob that I can stick in the dash to start the car.

Thanks. I'll check the prices (and put in new fob batteries).

Have any of you Prius tech gurus ever looked into the possibility of programming one fob to run two different Priuses? Does the capability even exist, or will the fob only talk to one car?

 

Thanks-- I'll experiment with our third non-SKS fob and program the cars to start when I plug it into the dash of either one.

I hesitate to try to program the SKS fob to work in the dash of the non-SKS Prius. I don't know enough about the fob's design to understand whether programming the non-SKS Prius to it will somehow wipe out the SKS fob's car ID for the SKS Prius and make it stop working for the SKS Prius. It shouldn't, but I don't know the technical details.

 

Among all the programming questions and technical details, it's getting hard to remember that I just wanted to have three fobs to use with this 2005 Prius... one for her, one for me, and a spare.

After spending an hour reading the old threads on fob programming, I finally understand the issues.

I realize that I can program a fob to work in more than one dashboard (immobilizer ECU) but not to remotely lock/unlock more than one set of doors. Of course I could cut another key for the second Prius' doors and use that instead of the remote buttons, but spouse wants to keep it simple. She'd rather have one fob for each car, with fully functional buttons, than to have one fob for both cars (partially functional) and a key dangling from it.

She's already tried to start her 2005 Prius while accidentally using my 2006 Prius fob. Now her fob is color-coded with painter's tape.

I've talked with Servco Toyota in Waipahu, and they assure me that they don't sell fob housings or rubber button covers.

In the meantime the buttons on the second SKS fob for the 2005 Prius are dying. I replaced the battery, and it works fine in the dash of course, but it won't remotely lock/unlock the doors reliably. It also doesn't always flash when the lock/unlock buttons are pushed, or it'll flash and not operate the locks, or it'll operate the locks and keep flashing.

So I'm going to have the dealer sell me a new SKS fob and program it for that car. I know I can buy a "new" SKS fob off eBay and do my own programming, but it seems to be a bit difficult to be assured that a "new" eBay SKS fob is really a new (unused) SKS fob.

I suspect that spouse will want the shiny new SKS fob, perhaps also marked with painter's tape, and I'll get her old fob. I only get to drive her Prius once or twice a year so her old fob will last longer in my key drawer.

Then I'll take the battery out of the third fob and douse it in alcohol to see if I can clean any crud out of the buttons. If that works, great. If not, then it doesn't matter. Either way I'll throw the third fob in my surfing backpack and I won't have to worry what happens on the beach. Again, I hardly ever drive her Prius so it's unlikely that I'll need a third fob. But it's nice to have in case one of the other two is lost...

 

Since I last posted to this thread, the second fob has just about died. It works in the dash but it doesn't work remotely and it won't lock/unlock the doors.

After reading all the SKS fob threads again, and checking around eBay, I decided to play it safe and buy a third fob from the dealer. We had the car in for other repairs so we bought a new fob. $248 for the fob, $36 for the programming, $8 for cutting the key.

The new fob locked/unlocked the doors and activated the car when spouse had it in her pocket. But when she stuck it in the dashboard it wouldn't start the car. We all fumbled around with our fobs and made sure that they weren't interfering with each other. We verified that her old fob would work both remotely and in the dash-- yet the new fob would not work in the dash.

The techs were shaking their heads at each other, so they took the car back into the bay and re-programmed the fob. This time it all turned out correctly, and the fob worked in all configurations.

I'm lucky that spouse has developed the habit of sticking the fob in the dash. (Our second Prius is non-SKS, so she just defaults to the simplest common denominator.) Otherwise we never would have thought to check more than its remote features.

So now we have a brand-new fob, an old fob with worn-out rubber covers over the button, and a nearly dead fob. She keeps the new fob in the car and I keep the other two in a desk drawer. Hopefully we won't have to replace any more of them for another decade or so...

 

Excellent, thanks. I see the second one has already shot up to $52, but I'll keep an eye on the first one...