A Chinese (err Japenese) puzzle box

OK, I finally went out into the parking lot at work (after most folks had gone home) and did some testing.

The short version is that:

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  [hr:543b8843e0]
  To unlock the door from the inside when the alarm has been triggered:
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    Testing notes:
    
    I found that if you lock the car from inside, with the doors closed, the alarm/auto-relocking condition is not triggered (that is, you can unlock & open the doors, and the alarm does not sound). Therefore, you *can* lock yourself in the car from the inside with the doors shut if another person has taken away the fob, and expect to get out later without any problems.
    
    Then as expected, I found that locking the doors from the outside (with or without SKS on) and then attempting to unlock/open from the inside resulted in triggering the alarm/auto-relock condition. The behavior appeared to be identical for rear passenger, front passenger, and driver’s doors. (I did not test the driver's side rear door).
    
    The alarm did time out when I stopped trying to force it to open for a bit, and started again when I continued.
    
    Finally, and most importantly for anyone inadvertently (or intentionally!) locked in, I found that you *CAN* actually unlock/open the doors with a little determination & patience.
    
    It wasn't all that easy, though I'm sure some of the difficulty was not knowing how to do it, or if it was even possible, and having the horn blaring away. I expect that any adult could do it, if they weren't too flustered, but I'm not sure about kids. I will ask my son to try & give you the small 7-year-old-boy results when I get a chance. I'm pretty sure that it could *not* be managed with something threaded through a wedged open window gap, ala the original AAA methods described in the first post of this thread.
    
    When I initially tried it, I really thought that I could not do it. However, after fooling with it for a bit, I did manage to cajole the front passenger door open. Once I managed that, I tried the same test with the rear passenger door. Again, I was fooled and thought that it didn't work from the rear door, but after trying harder I found that it works the same as the front.
    
    Note that at first, the door moved just a fraction of the way, but was still locked and would not open. (As if you had not closed the door all the way, but had locked it nonetheless.) Just keep on trying & it really will come open all the way.
    
    Oh, and the manual says that the dealer can deactivate the theft prevention system, which I still might do after all that ... we'll see.

 

Re: A Chinese (err Japenese) puzzl[possibly waterproof fob]

After all that it may have been possible for you to have place your FOB into the waterproof pouch in the first place. I just accidentally left my fob in my shorts when I ran my shorts through the washing machine. I retreived it before the spin cycle, blotted it dry, and it has worked perfectly since then.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rcroft\";p=\"96074)</div>

Yes, I agree, absolutely. I was just most concerned about someone being locked in and not able to get out.

I'm really glad that SKS keeps me from locking the keys into the car, but of course there are times when you have to turn SKS off for one reason or another. History says that I'll eventually lock my key in one of those times - and I'm not looking forward to it.

I guess the moral of the story is to first try the trick that finally worked for you. If that doesn't work for some reason then just go ahead & call the locksmith, huh?

 

I believe you could activate the alarm if you lock from the inside, but you have to have the door open at the time, then close the door. This was the scenario preseted at creation of this thread.

I would like to know the page # where it says the "theft prevention system" can be deactivated. It is true that the horns can be turned off but the lights still flashing, but turniing off the theft alarm is not documented. If it were, you wouldn't need to 'buy' it as an option for packages that have it off.
Even with the alarm off, the locking system behavior can be altered but not turned off. Immobilizer can't be turned off at all.

Edit: just checked customized functions, the way the door locks operate with regard to security is not customizable. most of the options pertain to the warnings, answer back and delays, as well as what doors get unlocked depending on how you press the fob button.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DanMan32\";p=\"96257)</div>

Page 44

 

Hmm. I know you can turn off the horn from sounding, but repair manual intentionally leaves off turning theft deterrent on and off so that you have to buy VIP. Interesting that it doesn't describe theft deterrent as an option but appears to assume it is standard.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(delrey @ May 31 2005, 12:01 PM) [snapback]94315[/snapback]</div>

Inside the back bumper towards the top works well and doesn't get groady with road dirt.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ May 31 2005, 11:47 AM) [snapback]94310[/snapback]</div>

AAA makes plastic emergency keys, generally free of charge to AAA members. It isn't designed to be used in the ignition (in a non-Prius), but to open the door. The blank is attached to a credit card sized piece of plastic and remains attached. That way you can keep it in your wallet.

I don't know if they have blanks for a key the size that the fob has, but it's worth checking.