key fob question for 2008 prius

If have a smart key system, there are small black buttons on the front door handles and the rear door. Don't waste your money on a silver one, the black ones are cheaper.

 

If you do have the smart key function in your car buying FOB's on ebay is a waste of money. If you lost or don't have the orginal FOBs for the car the ONLY way to get the smart key function to work is to buy new FOBs from Toyota and have a Toyota dealer program the car to the FOBS. If you get FOBS from ebay you can lock/unlock the car with the buttons on the FOB and start the car by inserting the FOB into the slot, but the smart key part won't work.

 

Either color logo keyfob will function to start the car with the keyfob in the dash. It's worth getting a black logo keyfob and trying to program the lock/unlock functions. I'd give it about a 10% chance of succeeding on the lock/unlock. The do-it-yourself programming instructions that work for inserting the keyfob into the dash are in http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...lly-how-program-non-sks-key-fob-detailed.html

You can get a $2 copy of the mechanical key anywhere keys are made. That will allow you to lock/unlock the door. You can get a blank keyfob style key at the dealer for about $7, and then try to find someone with the equipment to cut it. I've had nothing but trouble with the $2 key folks trying to cut a genuine keyfob style key. Real locksmiths do ok, but you'll have to bring them the blank.

 

Yes, you need the black fob for the remote functions. The silver fob is for SKS. Even with the black fob you may not be able to make the remote functions work with a used fob. I don't know enough about the non-SKS to tell you for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if you have trouble.

Tom

 

What if you still have one of the original SK FOBs, and just need another. My wife and I just bought a used '05 with SK, but only came with 1 key. The dealer told us that if we lost it, then it would get really costly, but as long as we had 1 original, we could purchase another FOB and have it programmed. Do you know if this is true? I was hoping I could buy a silver FOB off ebay and have it reprogrammed, rather than paying the dealer the $240 for the FOB, and another $45-90 labor to program it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

In your case as far as I know the only way to have everything work is to get a new Fob from Toyota. If you get a used Fob off of ebay you can have it programed to start the car by putting it in the slot but the only way to have all the smart key functions work like the original is to get a new Fob from Toyota and have the dealer program it.

 

After further reading last night, that was the conclusion that I came to as well. At least I found the part number for a new SKS FOB and have sourced it a lot cheaper than the $240 the local dealer quoted me!

 

The Prius can be reprogrammed to work with a used Smart Key, but only by a limited number of dealers that have special equipment and a special account with Toyota. The dealer has to call Toyota and get a code that is good for a limited number of minutes. This code is used to reset the Smart Key System.

Because of the complexity and labor behind this process, and also because only a few dealers can do it, it almost always makes more sense to buy a new fob.

Tom