Old SmartKey & New Prius

Last week my husband & I traded in an '05 Prius for an '07. I had purchased an extra SmartKey (for $273, including programming) for the '05 and assumed I could have it reprogrammed for the new car. The salesman from whom we purchased the '07 said it couldn't be done. So I relinquished the mechanical key from the extra SK, but held onto the fob because I'd seen posts on this forum about using old fobs with new keys (i.e. , after reprogramming).

Before phoning the service dept of the '07 dealer (different from the dealer from whom we bought the '05), I phoned the '05 dealer's service dept to check whether the extra SK I'd bought from them could be reprogrammed for the '07. I spoke to a service advisor who said a new mechanical key could be ordered for the '05 fob, which could then be reprogrammed to the '07 vehicle. The new key would cost about $5-15 and reprogramming would cost $80.

So I went ahead and made an appointment with the service dept of the '07 dealer to have this done. About an hour or so after I'd dropped off the car, I was informed that my old fob could not be reprogrammed. When I explained that I'd researched the matter and had been told it could, the service person claimed there was no software for reprogramming the old fob.

Today, I phoned the '05 dealer's service dept and asked to speak to a service advisor. The receptionist wanted to know what I needed and when I explained insisted she could answer my question herself. Her story was that the '05 fob can't be used with the '07 vehicle because each model year's SK contains a chip that only works with the same model year vehicle's computer.

As someone who has worked with computers and a wide variety of wireless devices for the past 23 years, this makes no sense to me! Plus, the fact that I got 3 different stories from 3 different Toyota workers makes me suspicious. Does anyone out there know the real deal on this?

Frustrated,

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jun 17 2007, 12:16 AM) [snapback]463296[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll have to save up for a new extra SK.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jun 17 2007, 06:32 PM) [snapback]463602[/snapback]</div>

Actually, according to this thread (you have to read all the way to the bottom for the full story on part numbers) <http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=33358&hl=SmartKey>, there's no difference in the numbers inscribed on the keys. I checked this by opening the battery cases on both my '05 and '07 fobs, and it was true.

So I guess the different part numbers only show up when the fobs are scanned by special devices at dealer service centers.