So here is my sad story. Two weeks ago I had an appointment with my local Toyota dealer for my 50 mile scheduled maintenance. Went in and within an hour I was called to get my car. I went to get it. The key fob was in one of my cub holders. From the dealership I went across the street to Walmart to pick up a few items. Once that was done I proceeded to drive home. Somewhere between the dealership and getting home the key fob disappeared. To make matters worst was that I was feeling a little stressed before leaving home and decided to take an anti-anxiety pill. Bad decision on my part. This may have contributed to my lost key fob. My question, if for some reason I lost my key, either at the dealership or Walmart, would I have been able to drive almost 25 miles to my home without the key fob in my possession. I did call Walmart and they told me no key fobs had been turned in. If I could not drive home but did should my key fob be somewhere in my house?
Let's see, you walked across the street, then back to the dealership to pick up the car. Was it already running when you got in, or did you press the start button yourself? I don't think it would start unless the fob was inside the car - close doesn't count. If it was already running when you hopped in and drove off then, yes, I could see it going 25 miles without the fob. Did you try getting back in and pressing Start?
I did pick up the car before going to Walmart. The car was off so I had to hit the start button and then drove off to Walmart. Arriving at Walmart I shut her down and locked all doors. After my shopping I again started her up and drove 25 miles to my home. Before arriving at the dealership while waiting for a light to change I removed my house key and placed that key in my pocket. I do not remember placing this house key back onto the fob but with that key also missing I obviously did add it to the key fob.
Have you searched the car? You would not have been able to get more than a few feet away before the car would have started beeping. Then it would shut off if it didn't detect the fob. It would not have kept running if you took it out of the car and lost it. If you locked it, you could not get back inside without it, or the physical key. But it certainly would not have started. So it MUST be in the car or on your person...
That's actually not the way it works. You are able to exit the car while it is in READY mode and take the fob with you. The car will beep when you close the door, but will keep "running" in READY mode. You will get yellow triangles and messages saying key fob not found, but will definitely stay in READY mode, and is able to drive without the fob being in the car.
will the car power up? if so, the fob is in the car. most lost fobs fall down between the seat and the center console. take a good flashlight and search closely. do you have a second fob?
I have tried starting the car without me using my second FOB. I only get the message, "Key not detected". The car will only power up if I have my second FOB in my pocket. This situation is beginning to drive me a little nuts.
I once forgot to shut off my car. Left it in P for about an hour and went away . when i came back car was still running.door was open. Key was in my pocket the whole time
I called my dealer today to get a quote for a new key FOB. Labor would be $!20 and the price of a new key FOB would be $362 plus tax on both labor and the key FOB. Yikes!
So, it's pretty clear that you lost the original fob (and house key) somewhere after leaving Walmart for home. The fob was on your person when you arrived at Walmart and exited and locked the car. It would not lock with the fob still in the car. It was still on your person when you got back in at Walmart and drove home. Otherwise, you would not be able to open the car and restart it. It's not in the car anymore, so it must be somewhere at your home. Check the pockets of all garments worn that day.
There are almost always options other than the dealer. If it were me, I would continue to look for them around the house as that is where the FOB has to be based on the actions of the Smart Key System.
When the dust settles: Attach small luggage tags (or a sticker) to your fobs, with your phone number.
You are absolutely right. I did find them when I was not even looking for them. I was in my closet this morning finding what to wear for a doctor's visit. As I was staring into the closet I happened to look up at the top of my wire mesh shelf. A while back my wife insisted I line the top mesh shelf with some contact paper. Over time the leading edge of the contact paper started to curl up from the wire mesh shelf. What caught my eye was the metal ring protruding out from the back of the curled up contact paper. I reached up and what did I discover, was my missing key FOB with my attached house. At this moment I screamed out, thank you Jesus!, My missing key FOB has been found! This definitely was one of them WOW moments. I would like to thank each and every one of you who helped me in this frustrating ordeal. Here is a picture of half the key ring protruding from my curled up contact paper between the hair dryer and carton of hair color. I will now use some tie wraps to secure the contact paper from curling up as in this picture.
Similarly: attach a sticker of some sort to your locking lug nut socket (if so equipped) with your phone number. Every time you're getting tires rotated or replaced, brake work or whatever, the mechanic needs to use this, and it's easy to misplace. If it turns up later in someone's pockets and it's got a phone number, your odds of getting it back are a lot better. (I did that, AND replaced the locking lug nuts with regular, just got tired of dealing with the lock nuts, lol.)
