What happens if you lose your Prius Key while on Vacation? What do you do? Who do you call? The nearest Toyota dealer is 100 miles away....Think about it.
Thats why I always tell my customers to do this when they go on vacation. Take battery out of spare key and put battery into glove box Hide smart key inside car(no battery) If you do lose your smart key, have someone open your door(tow company, AAA, etc..) Get your smart key and start car by putting into slot OR place battery inside and have it work 100%
i always take the second key when going out of town. never had a problem leaving the battery in, but i don't leave the fob in the car. i guess the same thing could be said about a regular old fashioned car key.
I was under the impression that the smart key works without the battery, at least the sensing aspect of it when you walk up to the car (RFID doesn't require a battery) of course the buttons to open the door do, I think the RFID receivers would always know the second smart key was inside the car, perhaps a metal box with the key inside would work?
The RFID function works only at the Start button. I went through this a couple weeks ago. When the fob battery dies, the sensing does NOT work when you walk up to the car, and car does NOT know when the fob is inside the car, except when it is held up to the Start button. RFID range is just a few inches from that button.
If you wrap the fob in 2~3 layers of aluminum foil, make sure it's nice and tight, it's undetectable to the car.
I've never lost a car key if ever. *knock on wood* But I do keep a spare metal key in my wallet so in the event I lock my keys in the car, I can get in immediately.
Easy! 1. Retrieve the keylet that I have tie-wrapped to an undisclosed exterior location. 2. Unlock the Prius. 3. Get out the spare key fob cleverly hidden in _________. 4. Take the spare key fob battery out of the glove box and install it in the now 'no-longer-a-spare' fob. 5. Resume vacation. 6. (Optional) Curse Toyota's poor design. Buy a used fob with an uncut keylet. Program fob. Cut key. Restore Backup. People don't plan to fail, but they do fail to plan.
Curse a bit, then tell the spouse to be very careful not to lose the other key. On my household's vacations, key #1 has never been lost a full minute. Key #2 has been lost up to ten minutes at a time, numerous times. But never simultaneously.
