I accidentally damaged one of my prime smart key fobs. Not 100% sure how I did this or what went wrong, but I know it's my fault. I had already voided the warranty on it by dinking with it for a project I'm working on. I didn't modify it much, I took out the battery and soldered red and black wires to its battery contacts. I also soldered very tiny wires to its lock button, AC button and its led. After some reverse engineering work, I figured out that the buttons and led on it each have two contacts to them, but one of the two is always a ground wire. That's not important now. I had a voltage surge on my device and I'm guessing a blast of higher DC voltage went onto he tiny fob board. As of now, the fob's RF and buttons no longer work. But, the NFC mode still works to start the car if I hold it near the PTS button and press the brake. This makes me think the damage is not too bad. If I can't fix it, it's not totally useless, it still would be fine as a backup unit with a blade key and can still start the car in batteryless mode. However, what would it take to get a replacement key? I can get a "blank fob" for about $100 used, $300 new. A locksmith wants between 100 and 200 labour to program it to my car. I saw some youtube videos on different older smart keys, and it didn't look too hard to add a key to the car's computer, using some serial cable and software on a laptop. Is this possible on the prime? I'd rather spend $100-200 on this software so I can take care of this myself if it happens again. If I get a key from a junkyard, can I use that? How can I "blank a key" that's got data on it already. What would you do in my situation...ya know besides quit screwing around with my car's technology, because I'm too commited and to far to quit doing that now.
Figure $300 out the door at a dealer minimum. This assumes you have a working fob. Not sure the purpose but I think it's used in the programming process with a TechStream(?).
If you have a working TechStream, you maybe able to get it programmed. I say maybe because I have not yet read anyone who has done it successfully on Gen4 or PRIME. I don't have working TechStreme, but my understanding is that for key programing your security clearance is more stringent. Yes, if you take a new or verginized fob to a dealer or locksmith it will take anywhere from $100-$200 to program it, that is if they will work on a fob you provide. Many places would not use customer supplied fob. I bought a verginized fob online thinking to program it to be used as a third key, but our locksmith would not use my fob and want me to buy brand new fob from him. I also asked a dealer. They said a minimum of $100, but no guarantee it will work using refab key. I still have a blank key un-programmed.
I've replaced 3 lost Prius Prime fobs myself. 1 for myself, 2 for a friend. Step 1. Buy a brand new fob from a real Toyota dealer, preferably via eBay or Amazon for best price. Step 2. Buy a Launch Creader Elite 202 or 205 scan tool, brand new on Amazon. As one of your 2 (or 5) "free reset functions" from the list of 16 or so choices, choose IMMO Step 3. Carefully (but without panic) use the scan tool to add the new fob to the list of fobs your car recognizes. Step 3 might be a little fiddly, but hey, I got it right 3 times, so that's encouraging, right? It took me maybe 20 minutes of fiddling/worrying about menu choices the first time. Maybe 10 minutes the second time. Maybe 1-2 minutes the third time. Here are my notes from the third time: Plug scan tool into OBDII port, follow prompts OK etc. Toyota It will find and display your VIN OK Immobilizer keys programming Entry+start (smartkeyprog) Automatic scan Shows VIN, Mode 9 OK key code registration Turn car on No cellphone near driver's seat It shows # of keycode spaces left In the documented case, it showed 5 (then 4 after doing one) OK "Check status, press OK" Touch car START button with working fob Beeps once Touch car START button with brand new fob Beeps twice Turn car off Both fobs should now work Check them one at a time, with the other one far from the car. If it works, You're Welcome If it seemed to do nothing, maybe you were too slow getting a fob to the start button, maybe your scan tool is newer than mine and you need to alter the procedure, etc. I persisted when having zero instructions other than the scan tool prompts, and got it to work. With my hints above, it should be easier for you, but that is not a guarantee. If you somehow stop your existing fob from being recognized, and it costs you $$$, don't blame me, you had the choice of being ripped off by the dealer instead of monkeying around. ;-) The car will recognize up to I think 6 fobs, maybe plus the 2 from when new. If you bought the car used,pray that all 6 are not already in memory, or that you can use the delete function after figuring out which of the 6 you have in your hand and DO NOT want to delete. Maybe the scan tool figures it out by having you place it against the start button. If you are MUCH braver than me, you can then *try to) use the scan tool to delete the fob you lost, or all fobs but what you have. Screwing that up and deleting all of them, will cost you $$$$$ for a "no keys" trip to the dealer. Hopefully they can get the car to recognize the fobs you hand them, rather than needing more new ones. In fact, you might want to do that deletion with the car pointed straight at a service bay at a dealership. ;-) Note about scan tool choices: There are many great scan tool choices, in many price ranges. Personally, I'm likely to upgrade to an XTOOL D7 or something else in the $300+ price range at some point. But I have only done the Prius Prime fob jobs with the above scan tools in the $100-$150 range. They are also great for observing, graphing in real time, and storing real-time parameters. I used one to watch coolant temp on a 2005 Prius I had changed coolant on, and was doing a 5-mile lap after each successively better air bleeding attempt. Worth its weight in gold for stuff like that. Many more features. But there are scan tools, and there are scan tools. Choose your price range, but a 202 costs less than paying a dealer or locksmith to add a new fob to your car. As far as which other functions to choose other than IMMO, that is up to you. In order of importance to me, I'd say maybe: TPMS (lets you swap winter/summer tire set, replace dead TPMS sensors) maybe a battery choice or two ABS bleed steering wheel calibration, airbag reset, or something else cool
I keep both fobs on my person. Don't ask me why; I guess it would save me a trip if I ever misplaced one. I do get a "low fob battery" warning once in awhile, even though it's a new battery, but it's just one of the small quirks I've gotten used to.
