"Stuck" unlock button-will SKS work with dead FOB battery?

Officially, you're out of warranty. Toyota doesn't owe you anything. Sorry.

Unofficially, if you find a nice person at your local dealership, they may help you out. A stuck button doesn't mean that the fob is dead...only that it has a problem. Unsticking the button may be all that is required. I've been known to unstick a few buttons on keyboards, before, so it's possible.

Replacement fobs are quite pricey, so do try to make nice with the guys at your local dealership. It's in your best interest.

 

If the button is still stuck down, that is why the the other buttons don't work. It can only do one thing at a time.

As far as I know a dead battery will render the SKS inoperative. You will have to insert the FOB in the dash.

I'd take the FOB apart and fix it, and while you're in there measure the battery with a voltmeter and replace it if it's dead. It's a very common battery.

Don't try to use it with a stuck button!

 

If it works it works. What can I tell you?

 

A stuck button means that the fob is constantly broadcasting a radio signal. That means super short battery life, compared to normal.

Did you contact your dealership, yet? I would try to talk them into fixing it for me, before I pry it open and try to fix it myself...after my own attempt, they could *rightly* blame its failure on my own meddling in the "non user serviceable" key fob.

Call them.

 

you have an 07.. the rubber buttons in your fob is more of a layer. you can pull the rubber off from the plastic and essentially pull off the button pads. it has a lip around the button pads that locks into the fob...

this means if you use a butter knife or screwdriver, you can pull rubber from the fob and place it back into the fob gently. (non pushed down)

if you're a DIY type of person.. you can even apply tiny amounts of glue and glue it back in.

if i confused you.. i'll take pics. (my old fob had the same problem).. my new fob is still factory glued so i don't need to abuse it yet.....

 

I was successful in getting my unlock button unstuck by partially removing the rubber cover as described by CobraKid in this thread Unlock Button on Fob Stuck Down | PriusChat.

The entire rubber strip has a ridge/lip that holds in onto each button hole. The black rubber cover has embedded white plastic bits that push on the actual button switches on the circuit board beneath. The white lock and unlock icons on the cover are actually the front side of these plastic bits.

Go slowly and be careful. It is easy to overstretch the rubber by pulling to hard in one spot. I used needle nose pliers, after I got it started at a "Lock" corner with with a fingernail. However, with the benefit of retrospect, it would have been better to use a spudger tool (sort of like a dull plastic flathead screwdriver) to push the ridges inward just under the edge of the rubber.

There was no visible glue, but it is possible it is glued in some places. It is pretty stiff to dislodge and remove. After I got about 80% of the lock button portion up, and maybe only 30% of the unlock button unsealed, the unlock button popped up and started functioning properly again (tactile button response). I then put the rubber cover back in place, kind of rolling the last corner inward a bit so the lip beneath the edge would catch properly on the hard plastic underneath. Other than a slight distortion in rubber that has the shape of my needle-nose pliers, it seems to be good as new.