Unlock Button on Fob Stuck Down

I think that you should try to get the fob replaced under the 3 year/36K mile warranty.

 

Can you post a picture? The unlock button is recessed on my '06 FOB (so I can't see how it would ever get stuck down).

 

Have you tried running a pin or needle around the edge in case a piece of dirt or something is wedged in there holding the button down?

 

Is the button still inaccessable if you remove the battery cover and the batteries?

 

Talk about a post with great timing!!!

As I was getting my free oil change at NoHo Toyota, the gentleman who sat next to me had just drove up in a nice Charcoal gray baby!! My first words to him were ... have you gotten tired of that damn backup beep yet!!!

Well that started the ball rolling and he happened to mention the reason that he was there was his FOB had a STUCK BUTTON!

The unlock switch was broken. It was in the down state, or ON mode if you prefer, but it was not making contact. If you pressed and forced the contacts together as you normally would as you depress the switch it would work! The fact that there was no tactile feedback from the switch was bugging him! The only fix was to replace the FOB with a new one. It was covered under the warranty. As I drove away they were finishing programing it, I could tell by the number of times they were testing it!!! beep, beepbeep, beep, beepbeep over and over!!!

By the way he was very tired of the back up beep, I wrote down the de-beep info for him, and told him to look us up at Priuschat.com!!!


73 de Pat KK6PD

 

That will teach you to leave that DAMN EASY BUTTON at home!!!!

However, glad they covered the cost!!

A win for you!!

73 de Pat KK6PD

 

Argh, the unlock on my "main" fob is stuck down too :/

Downside of not using the SKS I guess... For the record, it lasted approx 2.5 years of normal unlocking abuse.

 

Mine WAS stuck down... since mine has worn through, i decided to experiment a bit. It turns out the Lock, Unlock, and Panic area ( on the fob ) is 1 large gromit (for lack of a better name) it sits around this shelf.. pops in and out. If you get a hold of the rubber, pull it up and re seat it.

I didn't notice any type of glue.

 

I unstuck the unlock button. I tried to use an exacto knife and open the unit along the side seams. Too hard. Then I noticed a Prius key fob for sale on ebay with the rubber part covering the unlock button cut away. So I carefully used the exacto knife to open the rubber square over the unlock button and opened 3 sides of the rectangle. The plastic embedded in the rubber was stuck in a convex position putting pressure on the unlock button. I popped it back up and then put a little tape over the rubber flap so if it got stuck in the down position again, I could unstick it again. Seems to work now. Note: With the button stuck in the down position, the fobs with the smark key function will continuously send a signal to the car every few seconds or so. Eventually, it'll drain the 12V battery. That's what the dealer told me. So if you have a stuck button, either keep it away from the car when you're not going to drive it, or fix it.

 

The keyfob case can be cracked open by removing the mechanical key, and applying force with a pair of needlenose pliers in the mechanical key slot. I also removed the battery before opening the case, but I don't recall if that is necessary or not. I've done it to one keyfob, and the glue broke loose without any damage to the plastic. After cleaning out some of the old glue, I put the case back together with new glue.

I'm not sure quite what you would do to correct a stuck button, but it certainly is possible to take the case apart and put it back together.

 

The case slides apart with hand force but you need to hold back the key release slide.

 

I unstuck the unlock button. I tried to use an exacto knife and open the unit along the side seams. Too hard. Then I noticed a Prius key fob for sale on ebay with the rubber part covering the unlock button cut away. So I carefully used the exacto knife to open the rubber square over the unlock button and opened 3 sides of the rectangle. The plastic embedded in the rubber was stuck in a convex position putting pressure on the unlock button. I popped it back up and then put a little tape over the rubber flap so if it got stuck in the down position again, I could unstick it again. Seems to work now. Note: With the button stuck in the down position, the fobs with the smark key function will continuously send a signal to the car every few seconds or so. Eventually, it'll drain the 12V battery. That's what the dealer told me. So if you have a stuck button, either keep it away from the car when you're not going to drive it, or fix it.

 

old thread

this happened to me. my prius smart key got stuck after 3 years of keeping it in jeans i guess.

i have that extended warranty from troy.

toyota platinum care agreed to pay for the replacement of "the mechanical failure of the key fob"

so i take it to the dealer drop it off for 2 hours, they wake me up and call me 90 minutes later saying "they need the spare key for reprogramming" i drove straight to the dealer and told the service guy straight up that i dont think he knew he was doing and why in the heck do u need the spare for, it will hold 4 keys. we had a brief spat, he said 'i need a key with a working unlock/button to program the car'

i think he was wrong

anyway he gave me a new fob for free and gave me my broken fob back, he never deleted the broken fob out of the system, so now i got 3 prius keys.

i'd sell it on ebay but im worried that cars wont accept an older fob that has been used a lot and the person would want a refund so i think ill keep it as a spare and not sweat about the key not being deleted

 

Great thread.

Mine had done the same about a year ago... and I had simply shelved it in favor of the second key... Recently my wife needed it, and had to go through the pain and agony of using the valet key and actually plugging the fob in.... Yuck!

So I exacto knifed around the top and sides of the unlock button, and it released enough pressure that they thing now works fine... Awesome. Just good enough for a backup!:rockon:

Thanks for the advice!

 

I was successful in getting my unlock button unstuck by partially removing the rubber cover as described by CobraKid here.

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.