A Chinese (err Japenese) puzzle box

I'm surprised the engine started, even with the fob in the car if you had turned off the SKS.

Tyeise

 

Really? I'll have to test this but I'm 99% positive that the time I tried to lock mine from the outside when I had not powered down, it scolded me by beeping and did not lock.

Maybe I wasn't in Ready mode, having been listening to the radio while I made some notes before leaving the car. I don't leave it in Park for any appreciable time while 'running' since that will discharge the traction battery faster causing the ICE to start, waste gas and decrease my tank MPGs.

 

Then you have to know which is the cheapest window. If yourwallet was close enough to reach through the little windows in the back, that would be my guess for the cheapest. Otherwise you have to know if the front or rear side windows are cheaper since you would be shoving your 5 year old through it.

I am sorry for your tale of woe, but at least you have educated many people in the potential solutions to such a problem. Me, I'm taking your experience to heart. If there is any reason for me to leave the fob in the car and take the little key, it will be on a wrist or neck chain. Hmm, I could get one ear pierced and use the key as a 'conversation piece' earing. Then again, maybe I won't.

 

After reading this thread yesterday, when I was reading the manual, I looked to see what it said. Surprisingly, it mentioned that breaking the smallest window would result in smallest cost. I've never seen a manual suggest breaking a window before!

 

Done that. CD Wallet containing bunch of computer CDs fell almost a mile away.
I thought I might have absentmindedly threw them out as I had a bag of used kitty litter in other hand to put in the trash. Trash day was that day, and didn't realize they were missing until the next day.
'not in car, must be home'. Wait till get home. 'not home, must be at work'. wait til get to work. 'not at work, must be ????' panic, grief, resolve.

A year later a guy calls saying he found it, but didn't know how to contact me. Then he took out one of the business cards I used to store the CD keycodes on the back of it, flipped it over, and was able to call me at work.

 

Thanks for finding the exact quote.

 

So...

If I have SKS disabled...
And, I'm in the car with the doors locked...
I can't unlock the doors? What can you do inside the car that couldn't be done by the AAA guy?

I'm either missing a nuance of the initial, confounding (yet entertainingly told) store, or I'll be shocked when I go out and test this out by locking myself in the car! Of course, then I'll start the car and roll down the windows.

I can't figure out what I'm missing; but, I'm confident someone can point it out! Thanks

mtc

iterestingly I came across this post by searching on "key", "fob", "lock", "inside" because I want to lock the doors when I go jogging and only have to carry the little key. (I'd forgotten about the SKS disable button.)

 

There is a time delay, I believe, before this behavior is activated. But yes, if you wait however long that is (someone can probably tell us ...) then you'll be locked in!

 

I read the part in the manual about breaking the little windows because they're cheapest to repair.

And all I could think of was.....so what? What good does it do you to break any of the little triangle windows? Exactly what can you reach from there?

 

I wondered that myself. I know I couldn't reach much from that!

 

Well, last night I gave it a shot. I got in the car and disabled the SKS. I then locked the door with the door open, using the electronic lock button. I then waited about 30 seconds or so for the alarm to engage.

With trepidation, I reached for the flip lock level above the door handle. I flipped it and car immediately started beeping and flashing.

Did the lever flip back closed? How did I open the door? I don't remember! I panicked. I immediately started doing whatever I could to silence the alarm - pushing buttons on the fob, pushing the start button, opening the door and holding the fob outside the car and pushing its buttons (I don't recall how I opened that door).

I don't know whether the alarm was turned off or timed out after 30 seconds. In concern for my neighbors, and not wanting to embarrass myself more, I decided not to reproduce the experiment. I have to figure out a good place to redo this. However, my impression is that flipping the level let me open the door. In the original situation, did the flipping of the lever get tried more than once? If it was just once, maybe the right amount of pressure wasn't applied, and it was flipped enough to cause the alarm but not stay unlocked? More experiments will have to be performed.

It seems to me that if the little key opens the door and disables the alarm, the AAA guy should have been able to slim jim the door unlocking mechanism to the same effect.

 

When my son was locked in the car, he definitely tried hard, multiple times. However, he was in the back seat. As you say, more experiments need to be done. I'm planning on trying a couple things at work Friday (after the parking lot has emptied a bit).

Mine doesn't time out after 30 seconds. It was still beeping away after I ran into the house, searched for the keys, and ran back outside.

 

The owner's manual says to open the door from the inside to test the alarm. Not sure if that would cause it to relock before it actually opened.

As for jimmying the manual key lock, I believe the linkage is such that it cannot be jimmied.

When I had roadservice help me with a flat during week of Christmas, guy said he had lots of calls that week of people locked out of Prius'. He said it was real tricky to unlock, as it relocks itself, and alarm goes off. Probably better to try and pick the lock. Not sure if the tumbler is double sided like the key is.

 

i tested my alarm. and it made me jump so fast i didn't have time to check if it re-locked immediately...

yikes, that's loud.