2010 SKS System

on the 2, it's across the back of the driver's door handle

 

In the 2010 Prius, the sensor to unlock the door is on the back of the door handle (similar to the 2008) and the sensor to lock the door is on top of the handle. It is no longer a black button - it is just some indentations in the handle.

The main difference is that the 2008 has 3-door SKS, while the 2010 Prius II has a 1-door SKS. That means that on the 2008 model the driver's door, the passenger's door, and the rear hatch all have SKS sensors and you can lock or unlock the doors from any of these three locations. On the 2010 Prius II, there are SKS sensors only on the driver's door. You cannot lock or unlock the doors using SKS either from the passenger's door or from the rear hatch. To get that feature you have to move up to the Prius IV or V.

 

But with 1 door SKS you can have all the doors unlock when the drivers door unlocks so it isn't that bad. And you still have the lock/unlock buttons on the remote fob.

 

I miss the hatch sensor in my 2010 but I like the rest of my 2010 enough that I will get over it.

 

You can ask the dealer to program the fob to open all with one push (driver door sensor can be reprogrammed too). I think there is a model that has the back door sensor but weight is the determining factor when packages are put together from what I have read here.

 

You can see the video in youtube i can't attach the title
but you can search for 2010 Toyota Prius: Smart Key

 

I pop into all these threads to say I wish I had the trunk SKS...please somebody find a way to add it on!! :-D

 

Toyota has dumbed down their smart key system and are hiding the fact in my opinion. I'm waiting for their response to the following:

We recently purchased a 2010 Prius in error but believe the error yours – you provided a false description! We have purchased several Toyotas in the past and already have a 2004 Prius so when we needed to replace 2 cars that were ruined in a flood we decided to purchase another Prius. Little did we know that the smart key was no longer smart! We take care of my 95 year old Mother and one of the things I loved about my 04 Prius was that I could take my Mom in her wheelchair, walk up to my car and without any effort manage to get my unsteady Mom (who needs a lot of help) in the car without a key by just touching the passenger door and then open the back door (which unlocked when I opened the passenger door) for the wheelchair. So I bought another Prius with the "smart key" only to find too late that the key is not very smart any longer. I was led to believe that we were getting the same thing or better in the '10 cars. Now I am told that I have to open the front door, walk around the car to open the passenger side door (or open all things at once, but only from touching the drivers door)- or find the key, which I never before had to use to open the car. Calling this smart is false advertising – since you have changed the meaning of the word – you should call it a “less smart†key or a “dumber key†or some such thing. We bought this car, with something called smart entry -- but you changed the meaning without warning us. -- Now I am stuck and it will make my life harder – We had poured over the internet and the Toyota prospectus to see what was different - smart key was checked so we were sure that we had the same or better than earlier models, in the car we purchased. How were we to know that you were now producing an inferior car? Calling it a smart key is false advertising and I would like something to be done about it. We even called the dealer and they told us to come in and they would fix it - but, alas, that was not to happen – even they weren’t fully aware of the major change you had made. I am told that to get the kind of smart key you used to provide I could pay another 4 plus thousand dollars and buy things we are not interested in and that they will swap cars. This is like robbery! I can't tell you how many friends we told about our great car in the past - and now we have to tell everyone what a false and untrustworthy company you are. We feel that you owe us something - that we have been cheated. We would like you to be honest with consumers like us so we don't end up with cars that have less quality than we were led to believe or that you previously had. Who knows what other secret downgrades we bought. You made a mistake and we feel you are obligated to make it up to us. Any honest company would make it up to us, or are we back in the days of snake oil salesmen? Although the damage has been done we hope to hear from you soon on what you will do to make this up to us. Please do not just send us back to the dealer because we spoke with them and they say it is not their fault, we don't believe it is their fault - it is a Toyota decision to hide this change and we hope you take action on this - starting with us.

 

It's to bad that the fob no longer has a receptacle on the dash since now it is more likely to get lost in a purse. What's really funny is I'm coming from a 2007 Prius II or III that had the SKS on both front and rear hatch doors but, for some reason, I always used the remove to lock all the doors and kept my house and mail box keys with it so I never lost them--always handy. And yet I always used the SKS to open the hatch for bags of groceries, etc.

I'm going to look into the reprogramming option but I still think I'll be just using the remote to open all the doors when needed... LOL, maybe I'll reverse my habits and start locking up the car using the drivers door SKS?

One other thing to mention about the 2010 SKS is that its deactivation button below the steering wheel dash has been removed so I don't yet know how to deactivate the system. Toyota is still warning about a potential interferance problem with pacemakers and or defibulating pacemakers. Gee, you don't suppose that could possibly grow into another recall do you?

 

Yes, another surprising shock since it never occurred to me that Toyota would degrade systems on the Prius was the rear view mirror. I liked the automatic dimming feature and I programed and used one of the buttons to open my garage door for 3 years. But hey, I got the navigation GPS system and voice control and XM radio!

 

Here's how to toggle between 1-door unlock and 3-door unlock on the Prius II.

1. Stand outside the car with the remote.
2. Lock the car with the remote.
3. Simultaneously press all 3 buttons on the remote and keep them pressed for 5 seconds.

 

Actually when I started researching Prius, Generation 2, I heard that the automatic dimming feature of the rearview mirror was pretty useless as it didn't dim fast enough at night. I actually looked at Pkg. 2 Prius because they did NOT have the dimming rearview mirror. (other reasons as well)

But whether you like it or not, it's not really an degradation, it was always an incremental option at different levels.

Since 3 door SKS is still available, albeit at a higher package level and cost, I don't see this as a degradation of Prius in Gen 3.

I do think Toyota could be more forthcoming or should I say a little more clear in communicating that the "entry level" Prius II and III only have the drivers door SKS.

Yes if you are reading carefully and studying the brochures it does say it, BUT some people stop looking when they simply see the phrase "SKS System". Plus since it seems a LOT of dealerships and sales people aren't aware of the difference or at least they aren't forthcoming in communicating the difference to potential buyers so I don't demand a change but I think Toyota should think about being a little more clearer about 1 door, and 3 door and explaining what that means to the buyer. Too many people are buying II's and III's and THEN discovering the difference.

Right now the "explanation" is buried in the subtle phraseology difference between "Drivers Door SKS" and "3 Door SKS" and further in the fine print. I do think it could be made more clear.

 

So there is, for example, cruise control and adaptive cruise control.

 

I'm still waiting for something definitive about how to disable the SKS so that Toyota's warning about pacemakers in the vacinity won't apply and if one really needs to play it this safe?

So has Toyota issued some statement that this pascemaker issue is no longer any issue and that that is why you can no longer easily (or need to) deactivate the SKS?

Where is that corrective statement?