Driving without a key?

Me too.

Have you thought of adding each other's fob as an extra fob to your own car? Dealer would have to do that for you.

You don't have to be in ready for the radio, though you do for the A/C compressor to operate.

Yup, I did.

 

Spouse bought 2005 Toyota Prius Pkg# 2 on Monday night, 28th March. If I "never" drive it and have my fob locked away in the house but spouse does drive "all the time" should we, from time to time, switch fobs (each week? each month?) to give them equal usage?

 

Not a bad ides. Shelf life of those quarter batteries are about 2-5 years.

 

I have a new 2005 Prius with all the bells and Whistles - Including the Keyless entry. Iam confused how to handle this at my favorite carwash. They take the car from you and do the interior cleaning while you wait. What should I do? Keep the car running, leave the kyfob in the car? What if they accidentlay lock the car with the key fob in it?

What si the best way to handle this?

 

I'd keep the fob in the slot. They can't lock the car if the key is in the slot, even without SKS. With SKS, they can't lock the car if the fob is detected to be in the car. At least not with the front doors. If you are really concerned, keep the manual key.

 

Well, when you factor in that my condo heated underground parking has a wash bay that hardly anybody uses, I will definitely keep washing my car myself. Too many horror stories on this.

I can imagine when automatic transmissions first came out. There must have been some hilarious incidents of cars racing down the block with nobody behind the wheel.

I do think this is somewhat overblown. I wouldn't trust a wash mitt monkey to my Prius, but I also wouldn't trust that wash mitt monkey to a stick shift car. How many younger people know how to drive a stick shift?

 

Like DanMan says, leave the fob in the car. They can't lock the doors if the fob is in the car. I just release the manual key (which stays on my key ring) and put the fob in the console or a cup holder. The Prius has become pretty common around here and most car wash's seem to deal with them without problems...

 

It is too bad they do not use a RF tag for the transponder. At work I have an ID card with no battery (or if it does have a battery it is very small) but it has a RF tag in it. I wave the badge at a sensor to get into my office. My badge is the size of an ID card and about sd thick as a regular credit card. We have hundreds of badges with serial numbers that we can program access to certain doors.

That way the battery is only for the remote lock/unlock and would not be needed to drive the vehicle. I guess the one drawback would be the range is significantly reduced. I have the wave my badge around 2 cm at most from the sensor or it will not register.

 

Right, it's the range that makes the battery required. The battery is not required when it is in the slot.

By the way, I discovered that the SKS is taking advantage of the wireless remote door lock. Instead of you pressing the button to send the code, the various oscillators prompt the fob to transmit.

 

Here is one solution to that: reprogram the car to unlock all 4 doors (and hatch, of course) when you touch the handle. There are threads on this board on how to do this. It is quite easy and is more convenient, I find. Then, when you lock the car and are about to walk away, just tug on the REAR door handle to make sure the car has actually locked. The rear doors are not hooked up to the SKS system, so this will not unlock anything. Then walk away with peace of mind!

 

If you just want to know if your car is locked... you can use the drivers door, but do it quickly. I think after closing the door you have a few seconds before the SKS is turned on. At least for me I am able to check the door if I do it quickly.

 

Hi All,

First of all, if you take a second to make sure that all the pretty green lighted numbers are gone near the windshield before you get out of the car the "someone could drive it away" thing will be a non-issue. LOL

Seriously, I understand very well that SKS takes a bit of getting use to and trust. But it is very addictive (after nearly 2 months I don't feel the need to put the fob in the slot anymore) and have not used the unlock button on the fob in weeks.

As for the worry that the battery could die and leave you SKS-less, I solved that by keeping an unopened battery for the fob in my wallet along with a tiny screwdriver that doubles to tighten my eyeglass frames.

They sell the batteries pretty cheap at Target in the electronics department (2 for around $2.00).

Take care all and have a nice weekend,

Tisza-whose-car-is-soon-to-be-a-movie-star