Smart Key?

3 door key means
Drivers Door
Passengers Front Door
Rear Trunk Door

 

I've had smart key technology on several cars, and the fobs are all about the same size (if anything the Prius fob is slightly smaller).

What about it do you find impractical?

 

The FOB is rather small, actually.
"Smart Key System" (SKS) means you leave the FOB in your pocket. There are two versions in the GIII Prius. Single door, meaning only the drivers door, and three door, like the GII car has.
First, with the FOB in your pocket, you place your hand on either the driver, front passenger, or hatch door handle, and the lock will release (the three door version, single door version is drivers door only). You have a choice of either just the drivers door unlocking (if you place your hand on that door handle), or all doors unlocking. All doors unlock if you place your hand on either the passenger front door handle or the hatch door handle. If you don't actually -open- a door they will all re-lock in, I think it's 30 sec.
Next, once in the car, you still don't need the key/FOB in your hand. As long as it's within about 1 metre (3 feet) of the steering wheel the car will act as though you have plugged it in. That is, it will go to "ready" if you press the brake and touch the "on/off" button.
Finally, once on, the car will stay on until turned off. You can get out with the FOB still in your pocket and the car will continue to be "on". It will warn you if you close a door (it detects where the FOB is, that is inside or outside of the car). It will not let you electronically lock the car with the FOB inside. You can lock it with the lock button on the door as long as the door is closed or you can close the door from the outside and lock it with the key in the FOB.

This final "undocumented feature" has caught a few members. e.g. The wife had her FOB in her purse, the husband drove her to work and drove home, but stopped for groceries on the way and turned off the car. Then realized his FOB was at home! "Taxi!"

 

This final "undocumented feature" has caught a few members. e.g. The wife had her FOB in her purse, the husband drove her to work and drove home, but stopped for groceries on the way and turned off the car. Then realized his FOB was at home! "Taxi!" [/QUOTE]

This can happen.....if the driver is asleep or has the display turned off. If the display is on.....once the car does not sense the key fob....there is a message that the key fob is not within the car. The driver can still drive the car....but if he turns it off.........then it's taxi time.

 

RE: What does "Three-door Smart Key system" mean exactly?

It means if you loose your fob somehow (or it gets stolen) then your car can become a 3060 pound paper weight, if you and the spare FOB are in a different zip code.
I know people are in love with the whole SKS thing, but seriously....If I could hit the "delete feature" on just about any item on this car------the SKS would almost top the list.

I had a set of keys stolen one time while I was out of town.
Since GM allows you to mate more than 2 transponder keys to their vehicle. All I had to do was call OnStar, have them unlock my vehicle, and dig out my spare.
This was on a Sat night, in BFE.

If Ida been in "Goofy" (Company Prius), then it would have turned an inconvenience into something quite different.

Smart Key?
You can have it...thanks anyway!

We now return you to our regularly scheduled Prius commercial already in progress....

 

(*sigh*...)

OK. You're out on a SAT night, and some cretin steals your purse, computer bag, or you just plain old loose your fobby thingy.
I've already explained the steps to turn my stupid old-school GM back into a vehicle.
I'm not all that bright though, so you're going to have to explain to me who "they" are and how "they" can get me a new fob...

 

Uh, so GM allows two programmed keys per car. So does Toyota, in fact, Prius comes with two.

You're saying a dufus can get back into the car if he looses his key (or it's stolen). Sorry, don't really need more of those on the road!

And if you're really in love with "Onstar" (something I WOULD NOT have - EVER) go ahead and get Toyota's version. Or stick with GM vehicles.

Good luck!

 

Please keep your finger outside the trigger guard.
Just Relax.

I'n not a heretic.
I drive one of these things too.

What I said...you obviously didn't hear.
"Since GM allows you to mate more than 2 transponder keys to their vehicle..."


You see.....some people are married.
Hubby has a fob. Wife has a fob.
Hubby drives the car out of town. Hubby looses key.
Hubby scrood---until the nice people at Toyota permit him to purchase one of their precious fobby thingys, and go through the mating ritual....something that can only be done at the dealer, or by a (for now) select few locksmiths.

I did not mean to imply that this isn't the very best car ever made. I know the punishment for blasphemy is pretty bad. I acknowledge that only stoopid-stoopid-stoopid people loose car keys.
I throw myself on the mercy of the forum.

(...man! I hope spring gets here fast!!)

 

Part of the problem here is poor wording. The Prius also allows you to mate more than 2 transponder keys to a vehicle, so there is no difference here. I think what you meant to say is that "...GM allows you to mate a transponder key with more than one vehicle." In other words, one key can operate two cars, not two keys can operate one car. If you are a mathematician, we can just say that we have a many-to-many mapping problem.

Tom

 

Actually....I'm probably missinformed.
I was under the understanding that you could only mate 2 transponders to the G3.
If you CAN in fact mate 3 (or more) transponders to this car, then I offer profound apologies to the Prius community, and I'm very glad that we cleared this up.

I still think it's just a little crooked for this to be an "at the dealer only" procedure, but I can't hang that on Toyota alone---since other automobile makers do this too. If it's possible to place a third transponder inside the vehicle (say...with the battery removed) then I would feel much better driving it out of town, in BFE, on a holiday weekend.

I did throw myself on the mercy of the forum...

 

I thought the maximum number of associated fobs was four, but I will defer to the Gen III owners.

Tom

 

Who's going to shell out $935 for spare transponders in the off-chance you might lose it? That's a very expensive insurance.

 

Actually...you can get a fobby-thingy on eBay much more cheaply than 900 bucks, and if you can in fact mate more than 2 fobs to a G3, then the "smart key" [sic] is more of a PITA than anything else. Just something else you have to get the dealer to fix...or pay $$$ for a work-around.---like the beep-beep-beep backup annunciator.

As I said before...I acknowledge that many people are wild about the whole SKS thing---and I can dig that. I'm just saying that it's a necessity that I can personally live without.
Having to buy another fob, take it to a dealer, or a reallllly good locksmith, and keeping it in an accessible place will be just another goofy "feature' that I will happily endure to drive cheap (and green too, which is something of a plus!)

EDIT: I just did some fact checking. You can in fact mate a third fob to a Prius. It isn't easy. It isn't cheap. However (comma) you can do it.
"smart-key" indeed.....

 

I knew someone would stomp you for your comment (owner pride). You see this is a Prius group and you don't have the right to have a negative feeling on any aspect of the perfect car so the simple answer is buy something else, it really shows a lack of brain power and if you think about this it could be worse you could be married to someone like this and have to live with the thought that you are always wrong and you can't have any opinion

 

I find this group to be very open about dissenting opinions, assuming the opinions have merit and are presented without attitude. However, the converse is also true. Come in posting vitriolic rubbish and you are likely to get smacked.

Tom

 

1. You can run four fobs
2. EBay fobs can be programmed to the car - *but* the process is more difficult for the dealer (for security, they must call Toyota California to get info for each key). Hence there is no way any locksmith could dream of programming them.
3. New (never used) fobs only require the Toyota TIS software to program - but I'd doubt many locksmiths would buy this (Maybe some would *find* it on the internet - but it still needs a $500 adapter to work with the car (search Mongoose here for more)).
4. If you are buying a new car - that is the time to have them "throw in" programming your two 'Ebay' keys. I did this - it took them hours to figure the above out (that they couldn't do it just with software).
5. If your getting a spare - get two - it doesn't cost them more to program two vs one.
6. All dealers charge an additional (or part of the quote) charge for the key blank. Typically that is $80 of the total fob cost. Key blanks are on Ebay for $10 (or less), and can be cut by any decent locksmith for less than $20.

 

A minor correction to the above post: there are some locksmiths who can do the reprogramming with EBay fobs, but they aren't common. There is a new, professional tool on the market that lets them do it. One of them posts on PC from time to time.

Tom