The other day I parked my 05 Prius next to an 07 Prius, doors locked like normal by pushing the button, then when I came out the doors wouldn't unlock after touching the door handle like normal. After my intial reaction of ot-oh, I took out my keys and the doors unlocked by pusing the unlock button on the fob. Would parking next to another Prius screw up the smart key signal or was it just coincidence.
In the owners manual it does mention that the smart key system may not work if you are parked near a radio station broadcast tower and other sources of radio interference... Maybe the other Prius was interfering, or maybe there was some other source of radio interference in the area?
i always park next to a Prius if its convenient and have never had an issue. once at the movie theater, i was able to park with a gaggle of Priuses (5 in a 3 by 2 parking area going nose to nose) and didnt have issues then either. to be honest with ya, i will admit to trying my remote to see if i can find another Prius that will respond. probably tested at least a few hundred... no responses yet. to be honest with ya, i would find it difficult to believe that several others here have not done the same thing
My wife drove our Prius the other day for the first time. When she and her niece came out of the store and tried to unlock the doors they would not open. She tried and tried until her niece said that Uncle Bill would not let his car get that dirty. They looked in the next aisle and there the right car was. Two magnetic grays parked very close to each other. :lol:
It could be time to replace the battery in your fob. It opened the door with the manual button, but it may be getting weak. Tom
Another person that I work with has a prius with SKS also and I park next to them everyday and have not had a problem. I think qbee42 might be right about you needing a battery.
I don't think another car is going to cause enough interference to cancel a signal. Some dealers have problems with remotes around their service bays because of the signal strength going into the building. At Lenihan's you'd be lucky to get the remote to work a foot from the door if parked at the "wrong" end of their lot. My vote is environment if the SKS works everywhere else and fob battery if the SKS doesn't work anywhere and it is enabled.
While I'm not going to rule out the interference from the other car, anecdotally, I have parked besides multiple Prii at several Prius meet-ups over the past couple years and haven't once even witnessed smart-key interference.
I have SKS in my '05 and have noticed that if the key is in my left pocket, and I try to open the door with my right hand sometimes it dosent work correctly. Because I twist my body, hiding the key or keeping it too far away from the car for it to register. So I have to keep my body even, and then open the door, that always works. Also, the other day when we were coming out of target, I had some bags in my hands and had my wife open the hatch, it wouldnt work, even though I was standing behind her. I had to stand up evenly with her for the SKS to register. So, you probably have around 2' of fob to car distance before SKS will recognize the key.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Slair @ Jul 25 2007, 09:06 AM) [snapback]484634[/snapback]</div> Once in a while if my cell phone is in the same pocket as my key, I think the cell signal will block the key signal and the door will not open...once I take the phone out it works just fine.
Generally I leave the fob in my bag. If the bag is "too far" away from the front door being openned the SKS will not work. It only takes a foot or so toward the front or back of the car so the sensor is directionally sensitive.
Having stood on the roof of the dealership where I work, surrounded by 70-80 Priuses (Yes, at one time we had that many!) and the SKS worked just fine. The main things to look for are: The distance from the fob to the door receiver, must be less than 24 inches, and the SKS cancel buton located below the steering column. Was it in the proper position? SKS function of the fob uses very little power and if the indicator LED still lights when pushing the lock or unlock buttons then the SKS portion should still work.