What's the deal with the fob?

Dealer will charge about $5.00 and show you how, or buy 3/4 on Ebay for about $3.00
Don’t let this go, do it now, why be inconvenienced?

 

1. As long your car starts this method will always work. Think of it as NFC. Does your credit card ever run out of battery?
2. It's $2 but you can't buy just 1. I bought a 5 pack on Amazon.
3. No. That's a safety hazard. You can toss the fob out the window and the car will drive fine.

I drain the battery all the way before I change it out. I don't like wasting things. Using the mechanical key is not an inconvenience.

 

You can also disconnect the 12 V Battery after starting.

 

1) forever

2) cheap and easy are polar opposites

3) no

 

1. How long will the power start with me holding the fob up to the switch? Once the battery dies completely will that no longer work as a method?
Forever, but it is a needless pain
2. How much does it cost to change the battery and what's the cheapest, easiest route?
Under $6, Cheapest may be Amazon, but the easiest may be a local Walmart. Your fob battery may well be a CR1632, mine is.

amazon.com/Duracell-CR1632-1632-Remote-Batteries/dp/B00JAPY7C8

3. If the battery dies completely, will my car stop in the middle of the road?
No. In fact you can drive forever without the fob at all so long as you never turn it off.

 

Of course, while the vehicle will keep running we do not recommend doing this while driving

 

The most important reason to replace a dead fob battery is that dead batteries ooze crud that destroys electronics. So even if you don't replace a dead battery, remove it to protect the circuit board.

 

The battery in the fob is for wireless communication for smart key functions - remote lock/unlock and starting the car with the key in the car but not in the slot. Those don't work if the battery in the fob is dead.

However, the fob has an immobilizer chip in it that can be read directly by the car's electronics if it is in or very close to the slot in the dash. That doesn't require fob battery power, just like reading the chip in your credit card also does not require an internal battery in the card (as was pointed out above). To test this, just take the battery out of your fob and put the fob in the slot - car will start right up!

 

My dealer charged me $6 something and the parts guy changed the battery for me.

 

The slot is a Gen 2 feature, you have a Gen 3 and just hold the fob near the the Power button. Time marches on and Prius improve.

 

CR1632 button cell batteries. If possible, buy a 2-pack so you can replace the batteries in both fobs at the same time.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

That's a very fair price. Batteries don't grow on trees. They took the time to replace your batteries, virtually for cost, and you're still not happy?

 

You said $8.75 to procure and install fob battery was a rip off? Up here 2-pack is at least $5. These guys have overhead, salaries, business taxes, equipment. And a latte machine, lol.