I have a 2010 Prius that I bought in January. No problems until this morning. Here is the situation I get in my car, step on the brake, mash the start button and nothing. The green ready light does not come on, no key detected does not come on, nothing. However, if I take my FOB, and place it by the start button, the ready light will come on and it will start. I thought it could be a battery issue but, this happens with both FOBs any help would be appreciated
That indicated a weak signal or interference between the FOB and the ignition sensor. If the batteries in the FOBs are good, have you installed anything that could be causing interference or is there anything near by that could be causing interference?
Cellphone? I think someone mentioned that they had the fob and phone near each other causing a problem.
Thanks for the help. I don't believe it is cell phone related. I tried that earlier. It acts like a low battery but, would they both be low being one is a spare FOB. Also, if it is a low battery and the car does not recognize it, wouldn't I get a (key not detected) message?? thanks again
in the GenII there is a button that cancels out fob detection for long periods of parking. i think they removed it in the genIII. the safest and cheapest thing for you to do is buy new batteries for the fobs... you'll know "for sure" that fobs are not the problem. step two would be to go see toyota. your car is brands new so everything is under warranty. if it's not the fobs, it's your cars interior sensor. holding the key up and getting a start means your start button is fully functional. do you keep both keys together while at home, not in the car? (there was brief discussion about this potentially draining the fobs... though i've never seen effects from it) do you use the button on the fobs or the door handle to open the car? (you have only the driver smart handle, right?) if remote unlocking works, it proves again in your favor of the fob battery working. if the smart handle's locks & unlock works... then it shows your outside fob sensors are working... proving the interior sensors might be defective.
The fob works great opening and locking my doors, and still does. No problems with that. I think the internal sensor might be messed up. I have had the car for less than 8 months and use only one fob. I wouldnt think the battery is dead, mostly if I can lock and unlock without difficulty I mostly use the smart handle to unlock my doors, just tried it....did not work Pressing the unlock on the fob works......might be a sensor issue thanks again
Do you have this problem at more than one location? If not, then local RF interference is most likely the problem. If you do, it is either a freak failure of both fob batteries, or, more likely, a problem with the SKS. In that case take it to the dealer. Tom
Happens everywhere I have gone today to include radio shack to change the battery's No joy Going to dealer now
I just got back from the dealer and they had no clue why it was doing this. The "computer" said everything was working fine to include the internal and external sensors. It was nice going into the dealer with information gained on this forum. The first thing he did was change the fobs batteries (which I did and told him such) I guess Toyota batteries are better! No dice. The next question was RF interference....nope just started this am. No new devices, or hardware installed. Then they hooked it up to the computer.....no luck. I was told to drop it off next week so they can do a full diagnostic test on it. When I find out whats wrong I will share it with the Forum.
It is possible to disable the SKS on the Gen III, but it is not a user option as it is on the Gen II. Hopefully the dealer can reset it and all will be well. Tom
Don't go to Radio Shack for button cells. They're a ripoff there. I've read that the Gen 3 fob needs a CR1632 (Gen 2 needs CR2032). Digi-Key - P036-ND (Manufacturer - CR1632) has them for cheap (I have no experience with them) and might be worthwhile (due to shipping) if you're buying a couple or need a few other batteries too. I've normally gotten my button cell batteries from brick and mortar Fry's Electronics stores but there might be no Fry's in your area and no CR1632s are showing up on their web page.
In general, I have found that Walgreens has the best price on batteries. Nonetheless, go get them from the dealer and let it go at that.
I agree with RS being a bit of a ripoff. But, they do tend to stock a lot of connectors, etc that you are lucky to find in any other store. I imagine that stocking items such as those require slightly higher prices on other smaller items. However, there also seems to be more of their stores, they're convenient, and I've almost always found their staff helpful when I needed it. I miss the days of stores that carried the smaller items. It seems now, the easiest way is to order them online and stock up on a bunch of them. Unfortunately, when the battery is what you need, you don't want/can't wait for possibly a week before it gets to you.
Another thing that would be interesting to test is to see if it's all the interior sensors, or only some of them. I think there are 3 total; front seats, back seats, and hatch area. So, for example, place the key in the hatch area on the floor (and preferably nothing else in the vicinity), get in and close all the doors, and see if it starts. Try again with the key in the back seat. (OT: Having the sensor in the back is super convenient for when I go backpacking; I bury the key in my backpack since I don't need it for several days, and then when I get back to the car, I don't need to dig it out for any reason; just toss the backpack in the back and drive. )
The mystery has been solved. After two days of trouble shooting and the dealer calling the Toyota trouble shooters multiple times, they figured out my smart key was turned off. After they ran the diagnostics and found nothing wrong they called Toyota and talked to their trouble shooters. My dealer asked it there was anyway it could be turned off and they said no. After a day of working on it he called back and this time a different guy said yes. I guess the key can mess with pacemakers so there is an option to turn it off. Now the question is how it was turned off. To turn off a working key is an 8 step process that you could not just happen to do on accident (i.e unlock twice, then open shut door twice in 8 seconds, then lock three times, open door once....crazy combinations) All is well now and it works like a champ. Thanks for all the help
