Being the 3rd owner of an 08 Prius, I've never had to use the physical key to access the car. At the time of purchase (over a year ago) it only came with one fob. Out of curiosity, I finally attempted to use the hidden key, to learn it will not budge the Tumblers in either direction. I injected a bit of dry graphite Lube into the lock, to no avail. It's almost as if it's the wrong physical key. Electrically all of the Locking mechanisms respond inside the car. The fob works normally. All of the door handles appear to function correctly. Are there known issues on failed tumblers for Gen 2? Thanks
I really, really had to work at mine on my '08 when I bought it 18 months ago. Took about 3 days of trying, but it works now. Word to the wise... use your physical key once in a while, a lock needs to be exercised.
Maybe if you take the door panel off and work the mechanisms to loosen things up from both sides at the same time? I do know that in the first decade of Gen2 Prius, cars in areas with heavy rain used to show subtle signs of lock lubricant of some sort dripping down from key slot onto door. But now that Gen2 is older I never see that on cars anymore. As if it dried up after all these years? But keep working at it, it's an essential function you will need if you ever have your FOB fail.
I used no lubricant, but I would certainly never use WD40 on a lock, it will just get gummy. Just wiggled the key while gently attempting to turn the lock.
Just trying to figure out how they paired the physical key's chip with this car, unless the driver side tumbler was changed at some point in the past. I've tried using a small amount of vibration to work the graphite powder into the tumbler but nothing has yet budged.
