So my past 5 cars I've owned came with factory keyless entry...but the Prius is by far the worst in distance. I'm not sure if something is wrong with my keyless system, but if I'm 25+ ft away, I'll have to specifically point the remote at the car and press it a few times. If I can't find the car in a parking garage, even if I'm fairly close to the car, it's no use trying to set the alarm off manually since the remote can't reach it. Remote is definitely good since it is new from a year ago, even my old remote was the same. Battery shows no sign of being the weak link. Anybody else with the same with their prius?
The range is pretty short but maybe it's by design, to prevent accidental unlocking and alarm activation. I almost never use the remote's buttons. I don't see a need to. I just take advantage of SKS, unless I've intentionally turned it off.
I mainly use it when I'm locking the car. I forget to push the black button on the handle so by the time I'm 20 ft away it's a pain to get the remote to lock the car.
i'd say 20-30 feet is about right. i never use it either, you can get used to pressing the door handle button if apply yourself. that's the beauty of sks, leaving the key in your pocket.
have you changed the battery in the fob? also, cell phones near the fob can cause interference (it did for me with the iPhone 3 & 4 & 4S)
Sounds normal to me. Seems slightly improved with our '12 v, but not much. Far cry from my old Honda van that I could unlock and roll the windows down from 3-400 ft away.
As other's have said, what you are experiencing is normal for the Prius. It does not have a lot of range as far as the key fob is concerned. Try to get into the habit of pushing the black button when you close the door. I think the range is about 12 to 15 feet. You can try holding the fob up higher in the air, it does seem to help at the extreme range even though it is a lot shorter than some other vehicles.
Yeah my past cars were Honda and Subaru...I could lock the cars while in my backyard...with the prius barely can lock it standing in the garage with the car in the drive way. But oh well, seems to be the case with all the Prius then. Funny that I don't have the problem with a '07 4runner though.
