Driving the Prius without the Smart Key?

Don't remember reading this info in the manual anywhere, but I tested every possible option
and found the following behavior if you're outside the car, the fob is with you, and the car is in
Ready/ACC/IG-ON:

1. It beeps three times if you close door after exiting through either the driver or passenger side.
2. It will not let you lock the car with the fob (nothing happens if you try)
3. It will not let you lock using any of the handle buttons (it issues one long beep if you try)
4. It lets you lock using the mechanical key, and you must use the key to unlock (no other methods work).

So there. With all these scenarios having been thought out and designed into the car, I'm surprised that
Toyota engineers didn't consider a more forceful warning system in the case the car is driven off
without the key being inside. If it were up to me, I'd design continuous beeps that cannot be shut off,
and perhaps add a configurable option to disable the Start button so that the keyless driver cannot
shut off the car.

 

ha-ha I just did this today! Backed the prius out of the Driveway, then realized DH hadn't put out the trash can. SO i got out of the car & heard this beeping At the time I didn't think about it & had no idea why it was beeping. When I got back the orangeish indicator was on and I realized what had happened.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mcbrunnhilde @ Jun 7 2007, 01:32 PM) [snapback]457446[/snapback]</div>

Another way you could lock a running Prius is with the car running, open the driver window, get out, then reach in the window and press the door lock button, then press the Auto-Up on the window to roll it up, all locked up and running. Voilà!

You WILL need the mechanical key to unlock it again, however.

 

Oh and BTW, I just found out that if the car is in Ready and you open the driver side door then the car starts beeping non-stop (similar to the seatbelt beeps). It doesn't beep, however, if either of the rear door is open while the front doors are closed.

Seems like this "safety" beep is only to keep the driver from falling out, not any passenger in the rear who most likely doesn't wear a seatbelt (this is not a requirement in many states).

Toyota product engineers are pretty weird, if you ask me...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ Jun 11 2007, 01:45 PM) [snapback]459602[/snapback]</div>

All cars do this, they have ever since I've been alive.

 

The solution is to ante up the bucks for the retina scan/starter interlock.

 

Okay -- this is what happens if one person is in the drivers seat with car runniing and the other person gets out with the key.

The car beeps three times on the outside but once inside. It's soft enough that if there is any surrounding noise it would be easy to miss if one is walking away from the car. The inside beep is even less obvious. It just beeps once. It doesn't continue like the seatbelt.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Jun 7 2007, 08:06 PM) [snapback]457784[/snapback]</div>

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

This topic may seem funny to younger folks who have perfect intelligence and know it all.
But for us stupid old farts who occasionally forget where we put our keys and stuff like that,
it's actually not that comical.

As a software guy, I happen to view it as a fairly serious design omission.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darinf @ Jun 11 2007, 09:46 PM) [snapback]459959[/snapback]</div>

The warning lights and sounds happen when the door is closed AFTER the key is out of the car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Jun 7 2007, 08:06 PM) [snapback]457784[/snapback]</div>

Repeat above 100 times :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darinf @ Jun 11 2007, 11:46 PM) [snapback]459959[/snapback]</div>

You don't get it, do you?
It's not how much reading you do.
Once you're past a certain stage you just become stupid.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Jun 7 2007, 11:06 PM) [snapback]457784[/snapback]</div>

It's not that we're stupid. It's just that very few people are as perfectly "together" as you and your spouse apparently are. Even rocket scientists do things like forget their keys.

 

I frequently (heck, I did it twice in one evening last weekend) drop my wife off at the front of a restaurant, theater, etc. and go look for a parking space. Just about every time, she takes her fob away (she keeps them in her purse) and I don't have mine (because I don't bring it when she's with me). This happens with my Prius and her HyCam, and if the thing beeps at me, I sure don't notice it. Then, when I park, I go "dang! did it again!" and have to lock the doors using the inside switch. I'm just happy it powers off! Never gotten stuck though, but it's bound to happen.
rpm

 

I agree with rudiger, a user-selectable option would be great. I would like the car to turn off if the key is removed (not if it's already moving, and after an appropriate beeping outburst) Or at least not let you get out of Park.

TOYOTA: ARE YOU LISTENING?

That being said, I've actually taken advantage of the way it currently works. Leaving the car on without the fob present, and manually locking the door. I did this to run an inverter last year during a power outage.

 

Which all just goes to prove that you can't mitigate for human behavior, and in my view, there's little point in Toyota even trying.

The safest way to deal with this is to simply switch the SKS off, or not get it in the first place. That way the key has to be physically present in the slot for the car to be in ready mode at all. Alternatively, if you like SKS (as I certainly do), instead of wanting Toyota to find a technological solution that suits every possible circumstance and combination of user preference, why not treat the fob the same way you treat your drivers license - as something you have to take with you because it's required. Alternatively, like your wallet - after all, you would hardly think it reasonable to blame the store for not letting you get your shopping if you didn't take the means to pay for it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ZA_Andy @ Jun 12 2007, 10:42 AM) [snapback]460161[/snapback]</div>

Point taken. It's not that we don't treat our fobs with care. It's just that there are times when you simply forget (I forget to carry my wallet or driver's license sometimes). That's just part of ... err... maturity.

The point I want to stress here is that Toyota engineers do think of many, many, many different scenarios and use cases. But for some odd reason this one (driving off without a key) is not very high on their list of "serious warnings required". That to me doesn't make ANY sense. It's simply illogical (and unsafe.)

The car beeps three times if you exit with the fob and close the door. OK. I can understand that part.
But to allow the car to MOVE when the key is not inside, without issuing any serious beepings, is not what I'd consider thoughtful design. If they can program it to beep continuously when you unbuckle the seatbelt while the car is moving, surely they can do the same when the key is missing. The technology is there. They just CHOSE not to do it.

BTW, I write user requirements for multi-million dollar software systems, so I get anal about these things sometimes. Do forgive me.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ Jun 12 2007, 11:58 AM) [snapback]460172[/snapback]</div>

I tend to think Toyota's view of this is rather more simple than the discussion here so far would suggest. In my view I think they engineered the car to 'allow' it to be driven 'fobless' because they assume there to be valid reasons it might be a good thing (valet parking perhaps?) thus they included relatively mild warnings when it was being done because they assume it would be an intentional act on the part of the 'fob holder'.

What they really can't do is create systems to prevent users doing silly things, because once you start along that road you spend far more time (thus rapidly escalating cost) trying to build foolproof systems to obstruct the myriad of combinations of unpredictable foolish acts being carried out than you do creating systems which competently fulfill their principle roles and assume that humans are, by and large, going to know what they are doing!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ZA_Andy @ Jun 12 2007, 09:09 AM) [snapback]460180[/snapback]</div>

GALAXEE answers this issue in his post. The reason the car keeps going without the FOB is in case the battery in the FOB dies while you are on the highway... they did not want the car to just stall out... and create a safety issue.