Hacking the Prius computers

The keyfob requirement can be bypassed in the same way it is done on all remote start systems. Basically you put a key inside a box called an "immobilizer bypass". The box is inside the dash, and is triggered by a single wire that says "enable key". When enabled, the box relays the transponder signals between the key and a loop of wire next to transponder sensor in the keyslot.

I have installed an immobilizer bypass in my 2006 Prius, and it works just like in any other car. It is part of a remote start system that I'm still working on.

The Prius keyfob is too large to fit inside a standard bypass box, so I extracted the transponder from inside a keyfob. The transponder is a small chip about 1/2 inch long and 1/8 inch square. The rest of the keyfob is not necessary for the keyslot function. Any Prius keyfob will do, including wrong year and black logo units. I think I paid about $40 for a black logo unit on eBay.

 

Hello:
I just found this forum. Since it is a few years since you started your quest, have you had any success? I have a 2007 TCH, and a 2008 Highlander Hybrid. I am hoping to find simular information as you. I would be happy to share anything I can figure out. I eventually hope to convert the Highlander to PHEV, but would like to customize data output and control. I program energy management systems for a living, and hope to apply that to my car.
Thanks

 

I haven't done anything yet.
excuses: Time, Money, kids,wife,boss...

BTW, If you PHEV a Hi Hy....
does that get called
Hi Phy?
I was thinking of getting
and converting one - just
to be able to get this vanity plate...

 

Once upon a time, I wrote a disassembler for GM, which would take compiled code from an embedded processor in a car, and turn it into assembly language code*. It only took me about 6 months. [contact me for my hourly rate and indemnity requirements] Unless you are in the habit of changing code in bytecodes, that would seem to be your first step. Then you can get a tool for reading the microcode from the chip in your car....

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"all the energy in the battery comes from gas (as presently configured,) so it doesn't really matter if one uses the middle 30% or the middle 60% of the capacity"
Of course it does! Unless you are willing to replace your battery pack (at $2000 per) twice (or more) as often, just so you can get 3 miles of EV range instead of 1.5.
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"don't want to disassemble my dash beyond repair"
Don't want to disassemble your dash, but are willing to disassemble the code running your car? Only about a million times more complicated.
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"In the event of a problem, shift to neutral and use the emergency break."
You do understand that 'neutral' is a software state, right? The engine, and both motor are always connected directly to the wheels.
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"but I'm sure that the ECU coders at Toyota didn't spend several tens of thousands of man hours working to get the energy screen to look just like it does. That's the work of abstractions delivering low level code, if not abstractions running in near real time."
If anything, this just makes things harder. Toyotas programmers are working at a high abstraction level, which means the code at the machine level is even less human readable than if they were working closer to the hardware.
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* - Yes, I thought they were crazy (not as crazy as this idea), but I was getting paid, so.... Why they needed anything from the car, other than the build number from the source control system, was beyond me.

 

Hello everyone. I am a new Prius owner.

but I have a lot of experience writing code. I do it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. and then i go home and do it more (I have no friends). I specifically have experience writing display and GUI software. I wouldn't be comfortable re writing any code that directly affects driving. but I would love to see what I could do with the GUI for the display in the prius. I don't know about you. But in my prius I have the option for bluetooth although it is only for phone calls. I would like to try to make it so that could do audio also. But my specialties end at the software. IF someone else could find a way to directly connect to radio console. I would be happy, enthused even to work on this. I am sure that i could use some software that I have to decrypt and re-encrypt everything
Does anyone know what kind of port I can use to connect to it.
and where that port may be?

thanks
- James Carter

 

welcome!
you should start a new thread under 'audio and electronics'. all the best!

 

I’d be curious if anyone has figured out how to ‘fix’ the mpg calculator inside the computer so it matches what we can all calculate by hand (miles driven/gallons fuel purchased).

Thanks

 

not that i have read. toyota seems to have a pretty hard lock on everything

 

well... now that I have a Gen 2... and uhm.. lets just say I have the tools to get into the ECU.. just need to get a spare ECU to test with... but... My Gen 3 Plugin... its ECU isn't stock... for that hat trick, I was lucky to have a JDM PHEV Prius ECU... still trying to get a Gen 4 JDM ECU and now a Gen 2 JDM ECU...