Prius 2006 SKS key - Not Un-locking driver's door or starting car

Can you help please?

Prius 2006, Gen 2 with SKS key

Problems --
Key stopped Un-locking driver's door or starting car.

Clues --
* Pushing start button without key in slot - triggers Key missing light on Dash
* Pushing start button with key in Slot - Key-missing light on Dash does NOT light up.

Meaning key is recognized, and
Key is recognized as Valid - otherwise key light would not have gone out.

All 4 Door locks work on & off from Drivers seat door lock switch
When unlocked tail hatch opens (thank goodness)

Key Does not unlock any doors from Drivers door outside
Key Does not unlock any doors from Passenger door outside
Key Does not unlock any doors from Tail Hatch outside

Conditions-
So 12volt battery is reasonably verified as charged -
also it was on charger giving me a FULL Charge reading just before its final trip.

* Fob key battery is verified good @ 3.12volts (ed: Update -- There is no 2nd FOB).
* HV battery is mid range charged
* Key is Valid
* SKS System recognizes Key when in slot.

Tried and unsuccessful --
All (underhood and under dash drivers side) Fuses checked and visually good
Disconnected battery and shorted the two + and - cables while counting to 10.

Until car is running - Cannot check --
* Head-lights, or
* Turn signals, etc.

Thank you for reading this

 

Thank you for responding.
Re FOB battery --
No 2nd Fob.
I'll put new battery in and make sure its 3.3. Will report back.

Re Load Test 12 volt --
Since I can't start the car - can't easily get it to an Auto Parts store.
Don't have a second car and its 15 miles out in country.
Yes, I could take battery out and borrow a car.

But I'm fairly familiar with a low 12 volt - and it has none of those symptoms - indeed
it acts the opposite. Just as in fully charged - It enthusiastically locks and unlocks doors.
Besides that the 12volt started the car easily the last time.
I was just charging it because I wanted to top it off.
And the very reliable charger reported a full charge just previous to the last start.
I'll keep that as a last resort.
In interim, I'll check 12v battery voltage.

 

Thank you for rapid response.
Yes, checked each of 3 buttons. All provide a clear click.
Even took fob apart to see if anything was amiss. All looks good. No buttons sticking.

 

Thank you Bisco and Dolj for trying to help !

The 12 volt battery is charged to 12.74 volts - with cables disconnected.

"can you confirm the car starts when Start Button is pressed in this scenario?"

A: The car does not start under any tested circumstances.

FOB --
A: FOB chip did not fall out

A: FOB battery is new @ 3.34volts

A: FOB battery is correct side up

A: The chip is inside FOB in the proper position.

A: Yes, Pressing the rubber pad (to lock) and touching the back of the front door handles
or pressing the hatch release button/lever (to unlock) – SKS function - does nothing.

A: And when "using the lock/unlock buttons on the key fob – Remote function; or both" - does nothing.

SKS Key button
A: "the 'Key' button (which disables the SKS), below the steering column, is in the 'OUT' position, meaning the SKS is not disabled"

Opinion:
My current rough diagnosis considering all the evidence is that
the problem is not the FOB,
but the SKS system inside the car.

For me the revealing clue is that the SKS system recognizes the key, and recognizes it as valid.
Yet - somehow it the SKS system won't allow the computer system to start (to initiate car start).

Q: Are there any hidden Fuses that might affect this?

 

Thanks again for trying Bisco. I'll see what I can turn up.

Where could I find the Shop Manual for the Gen2 Prius - that would cover this?

or even better the Diagnostic Flow Charts that the engineers and mechanics use to Diagnose this rapidly.

The big reason I need those is because this is a strange problem (but possibly something simple) -
it is highly unlikely the local Toyota dealer head mechanic would know any more than we do.

But the Toyota Engineers who designed the SKS system know exactly how it all works.

 

Thank you Mr.GuyMann for posting the pictures of the RFID chip and its location.
Very Helpful ! Especially as I've never seen the RFID chip before - and have opened
the fob many times and changed the Fob once, about a year ago.

RFID FOB CHIP MISSING
Bewilderingly - the RFID chip is missing from my FOB.
So this immediately jumps up as a Suspect for the problem. However...

Car had been starting just fine for many months, maybe a year - since I replaced the shell.
It has wirelessly opened the driver and passenger doors and rear hatch.
It always started the Gen2 - in or out of the Slot.

The fob had not been disassembled for months before this failure.
Then 3 days ago it would not open doors or start the car.
This was hours before I took the fob apart to check its batteries - when potentially the RFID fell out.

So for a solid year - the RFID chip has either been in the FOB - or it hasn't.
I do not recall anything falling out when I checked and changed the batteries two days ago - AFTER the starting failures.

According to DOLJ --
"The only thing that will not work if you do not transfer the RFID chip over,
is starting the car with the fob inserted in the dash.
-- May 27, 2017

Other Symptoms:
Q: Does the dome light work? (Might want to check all fuses in the underhood and underdash fuse blocks).
A: Yes, dome lights work. All fuses (underhood and underdash) were checked as visually good.

Q: Does the little red LED on the fob light up when you push a button on it?
A: No. There has never been a red LED light on the fob. The key has worked for years without it.
I did install a new 3rd party fob case about a year or so ago.

Q: Do you know that the dash slot works? When was the last time you used that?
A: Yes, Dash slot has been working as recently as a month or so.

 

Could the FOB programming have been damaged by something like static electricity?

 

That's possibly the most helpful clue so far.
Thank you

 

Thanks again.
I've read about the DIY options. Can probably get the TIS scan tool and cable. Might be a lot less expensive than our local Toyota

 

Monterey, Calif Toyota dealer - just quoted me $850 for Key (~300) plus 2 hours (right ! ) of mechanics' time.
This is because they have no competition within 25 miles. "We don't care, because we don't have to."