How far can you drive without a key fob?

The actual answer to the OP's question is about 900 km. That's about as far as you can go on a tank of fuel. Of course you -could- leave the car running while you fuel up, but in most places that is illegal. And naturally, some hyper-milers will go 1300 or more km. That's a long ways to walk back to get the FOB!

 

I thought that without the fob you couldn't get it out of park. Wrongo!

Which means that I had a false sense of security when I left the car in park while running into a convenience store. That could have been disastrous!

 

2011 Prius. Forgot fob on kitchen counter. Car started and I drove to a restaurant 15 miles away. Stopped at a gas station on the way (turned off car). Restarted with no problem and continued on to restaurant. Once there I realized I did not have the fob. Figured I couldn't do anything about it so I enjoyed dinner. Came out and pressed power button. Everything came on including the message "key not detected." Interestingly enough this message did not come on at the gas station when I had initially stopped. Anyway, I figured I would have a friend follow me home in case the car stopped. Made it all the way home with no problem and found the fob sitting on the kitchen counter. Bottom line? For some reason the absence of the fob makes no difference which was a big surprise to me.

 

Ah, no . Is not possible

 

If this is true, you have a serious problem with your Prius. It would also be the first time any of us has heard of this problem.

Tom

 

I was going to say the same. Is there a way to disable the beep?

 

I would like to know where you work just in case I happen to be in the area.

 

Probably another fob somewhere inside the car. Under the seat, in the glove box, somewhere in the front.

 

My thoughts exactly, except for the messages about key not detected.
Guess I will go try mine now

 

Interesting thread. I'm new to the Prius (had it only a month), so I haven't tried to drive without the fob in the car and can't imagine a situation in which I would not have the fob on my key ring and thus on my person.

For my previous car, a CR-V, I carried a valet key in my wallet in case I ever needed it. Usually gave it to dealer mechanics to drive in and out of the garage for servicing. The CR-V had a feature I greatly appreciated, though; it made it very difficult for you to lock yourself out. If the driver's door was open, you couldn't lock it with the master lock switch on the driver's door. You COULD close the driver's door, then open the passenger door and activate the master lock switch on the passenger door, and then if the key was somewhere in the car at that point, you were out of luck. But fortunately, I was never that dumb.

I appreciate the Prius's antilockout feature, too, whereby it won't permit the doors to be locked if there's a fob inside. (I tried this by pressing the master lock switch with the second fob in hand, and surprisingly, it does lock all the doors, and you can close the doors. But then it opens them, and the "KEY DETECTED IN VEHICLE" message pops up on the display.)

Maybe I will figure out a way to carry the Prius's second fob around in case it's ever needed.

 

a 2nd fob would have to be inside a metal box... something to shield the signal from getting between it and the car. it's not exactly rare for people to do on priuschat. i wouldn't.. but some do.

 

I vaguely recall someone offering this suggestion, and the theory seems sound for anyone concerned about driving off and being stranded in a keyless Prius :

1. Have an additional door key made (not the fob that starts the car). Keep in wallet or purse.
2. Remove the battery from the 2nd (spare) key fob.
3. Keep the 2nd fob battery in wallet or purse with spare door key.
4. Keep the 2nd (now battery-less) fob hidden somewhere inside the car.

#1 is really only necessary in the (likely) event of being locked-out of a keyless Prius after turning it off.

Potential issues with this procedure might be not being able to take apart the spare key fob to insert the battery should it be needed or the spare battery being dead when needed.

 

The mechanical key can be used to lock/unlock the doors, and a batteryless fob can be used to start the car. That's all you really need as a backup.

I prefer to keep a batteryless fob hidden inside the car. A towing service can generally open a locked car without the key. But the only way you're going to start the car is with the proper keyfob. Without a keyfob available, you're looking at towing the car to a dealership. They'll be happy to get you a new keyfob during regular business hours. If that's 3 days away, well there's motels & car rentals...

 

Obviously a Troll, now go back under your bridge :lalala:

 

Understood that- makes sense.

Don't understand this part. The fob doesn't need a battery to operate?

 

It has the battery-powered transmitter with a range of several tens of feet AND an RFID chip with a range of inches. When the battery-power is gone, you can still hold the fob up right next to the starter pushbutton and the car will run. Assuming there's nothinf wrong with the RFID tag reader.

 

This is clearly the case with a Gen2, as it has a separate transponder chip in the keyfob. But the Gen3 keyfob doesn't have a separate transponder chip. And there isn't a separate transponder registration step like there is with Gen2.

But if you take a Gen3 keyfob apart and take out the battery, the circuit board alone works to unlock the Power button. The range in no-battery mode is about half an inch from the Power button. Actually, that's half an inch from the large black device on the circuit board that I thought was just the 134.5 KHz antenna for the proximity function. Anybody want to remove that device and see if it is a transponder? Probably not...

 

Thanks, That's very good info to have.

So we can keep a battery-less fob hidden (more than a few inches from the power button) in the car and a spare standard key in a hide-a-key type device somewhere outside the car and have the ability to use the car without the working everyday fob. Very nice, thanks!

 

How did you get into the car in the first place after the 4 hrs? do you keep your car open?