Manual Key

Welcome to PriusChat PK!

The mechanical key, hidden in the Key Fob, is there to get you in the car via the driver door if the 12 volt car battery is dead, the Key Fob battery is dead, or the car and Key Fob are not communicating. If you do not have the electronic portion of the Key Fob, you will be able to get into the car, but you will never be able to start it with just the mechanical key. Not even MacGyver could pull that stunt.

If the Key Fob battery is dead, just plug the fob into the slot on the dash.
If the 12 volt car battery is dead, you need a jump.

A backup of the mechanical key isn't going to provide you much insurance. The Prius beeps and won't lock the doors if you try to lock a Key Fob inside . . . but it isn't fool proof . . . as several fools here on PriusChat have attested to.

 

Do NOT lose your SKS key fob. It is expensive to replace and you can't start your car without it. You should have received two key fobs with your car. If you are prone to losing things, put your second fob in a safe and secure place. If you lose both fobs you are pretty much up the proverbial creek without the paddle. It will cost you several hundred dollars to drive your Prius again. If you lose one fob, it will cost you a couple of hundred dollars to "clone" the remaining fob.

Do NOT lose your SKS key fob.

 

I am the only who drives our car, so I took the battery out of the second fob and hid it in the car (I have a "smart" fob, so I wouldn't be able to lock the car if the hidden fob had a battery--leaving the battery in and wrapping it in foil accomplishes the same thing). I haven't yet gotten the mechanical key duplicated so I could hide it on the outside of the car, and I should do that. That way, if I lose the fob in my purse (or if my purse gets stolen), I will have a way to get into the car and a way to start it. I HIGHLY recommend this to everyone--and if there are two drivers, buy a third fob and have it programmed so you can leave it in the car.

 

I think Danman posted that the SKS system can only be programmed for two fobs at a time. If this is correct (and I do trust Danman) the third would be useless until a dealer enabled it for the system, replacing one of the first two.

Be aware, the fobs aren't "cloned". Every fob has a unique code ID (which can't be changed normally). Two IDs can be entered into the car's system as valid fobs. If you loose one fob and buy a new one, it's code is programmed into the car replacing the lost fob's code.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(David Beale @ Feb 24 2007, 01:13 PM) [snapback]395841[/snapback]</div>

Errr, nope. B) Danman didn't say that. We have 3 smart fobs programmed on our '04. Had a 4th, but it died. Me thinks the magic max # is Five fobs ... but don't quote me on that.

Back in the old days, if you lost all your smart fobs, I was told they had to replace the ECU. Modernly, now they can program fobs without having any of your fobs. My ECU died a year or so ago. The dealer couldn't tell whether it was my only remaining fob that died, or whether it was the ECU. What a hassle. This was during that transition period where Toyota was first able to program ECU's without any fobs. So, some folks were telling me I was S.O.L. if I didn't have a working fob, while others made out like programing a fob was no big deal. So now I have a LOT of fobs . . . just in case