Fob fell off, only key remains on keyring...NO FRICTION!

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by OptimalPrime, Sep 26, 2017.

Tags:
Page 2 of 3
  1. ct89

    ct89 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2010
    323
    266
    1
    Location:
    New England
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    Long ago I ran across a thread that was discussing a credit-card shaped equivalent of a FOB...I think it might have been in the highlander version of this forum but I'm not 100% sure. Anyone know if there has been any progress on something with that form factor...I would love to have the car just work whenever I had my wallet with me (and not work when I didn't)...
     
    #21 ct89, Sep 26, 2017
  2. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace 2025 Camry XLE FWD

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2016
    12,488
    11,731
    0
    Location:
    Central Virginia
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    XLE
    2017 Gen 4 Prius FOB
    1. Same
    2. My key holds on the catch.
    3. Unsure what you want here. Sorry.
    4. Yes
    5. I cannot push the key in without retracting the latch.
    6. No
    7. With the key partially latched, I can pick up the fob using the key ring.
     
    #22 Prodigyplace, Sep 26, 2017
  3. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2016
    2,036
    1,023
    0
    Location:
    USA
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius c
    Model:
    Four
    Well you can "assert" all you want but your own experience should show you that it is NOT the case.......no matter how much you want it to be.

    So keep asserting......and accomplishing nothing......or change your habits.

    A "watch" pocket is ideal for a FOB. Highly unlikely to accidentally push the buttons if you face them IN toward your body.
     
    #23 Sam Spade, Sep 26, 2017
    goluchowski and KrPtNk like this.
  4. OptimalPrime

    OptimalPrime Member

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2017
    160
    94
    0
    Location:
    Keene/Nashua
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    From #5 alone, it's clear to me that the 2017 Prius and 2017 Prime must have completely different key-to-fob latch mechanisms. So don't be baffled by #3, it just doesn't apply to yours, I guess.

    On mine, you can push the key in (all the way from outside the fob, to latched in the fob) while not touching the latch. I can stand the fob vertically on my desk (latch/key side up) and push the key in (by pushing it vertically down), which in turn snaps the latch out and back in as the key latches into place. All on its own, just from pushing the key into the fob. And using just a normal amount of force, clearly as designed to operate.

    My 2005 Gen II fob requires me to manually push the latch open before the key will go in, as yours does. And it also has very strong friction both when removing and when inserting, totally unlike the Prime. Way, way more than enough to support its weight, or to stay attached during jostling around even when unlatched and partially removed. So the Gen II basically matches more of your answers than the Prime does.
     
    #24 OptimalPrime, Sep 26, 2017
  5. OptimalPrime

    OptimalPrime Member

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2017
    160
    94
    0
    Location:
    Keene/Nashua
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    First of all, don't go making assumptions about what might press on buttons on the inside of my pockets.

    Secondly, I only asserted that it OUGHT TO work properly for its intended purpose under normal usage, not that it actually does so, nor that I will continue expecting it to do so, now that it's become obvious that it's a defective design.

    What shocks me is that Toyota knows how to do it well enough, and simply chose not to. To top it all off, apparently they put the very worst, and only clearly-inadequate version of fob on the Prime, but a better version of their already-iffy "hang onto the unimportant/cheap key, not the critical/expensive fob" design on the regular Prius.


    I'm a mechanical engineer. This fob-key connection is simply not secure enough to accomplish its designed purpose reliably. To get right to the point, it is a piss-poor mechanical design, excuse my French. It is far inferior to the design on my 2005 Prius fob, which itself is a lousy design due to relying only on friction if the latch is accidentally hit, plus holding the key 1000x more securely than the fob. But at least the 2005 has enough friction to prevent the great majority of mishaps, while the Prime has so little friction that it will prevent almost no mishaps. Toyota has enough mechanical engineers that something which isn't supposed to fly apart when used as intended, OUGHT NOT TO fly apart!

    Every airbag OUGHT TO not shoot metal bits into people's faces and kill them too. I guess Sam Spade would tell the survivors, and the families of victims of that horrible design, they their assertions to that effect are "NOT the case" too? They should learn to adapt to reality. Wear a face-shield helmet, buy life insurance, kiss their loved ones goodbye every morning, and pick out a grave site in recognition of what car they really own, and don't ask anyone to fix the design....just live and die with it as-is. Fortunately, there are consequences when corporations put defective products on the market. Not big enough consequences often enough.

    Losing a fob may not seem like a big deal, just an inconvenience/hassle. But it can also be a safety/security issue on many levels, depending upon who loses their fob, when and where, etc. Could easily cost someone their life, just like any other type of car breakdown which could have been easily avoided by having a product which does what it's supposed to..
     
    #25 OptimalPrime, Sep 26, 2017
    bisco likes this.
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    113,715
    51,752
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    and expensive!

    they must have really changed the gen 4 fobs. the biggest difficulty i have with changing the battery on gen 3 is getting the key out!
     
    #26 bisco, Sep 26, 2017
  7. Lee Jay

    Lee Jay Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2009
    5,850
    4,034
    0
    Location:
    Westminster, Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    Mine has unscrewed itself from the key ring it is attached to, but the key has never come out of the case. Of course, it doesn't really matter since the whole thing is always inside my pocket. I stopped carrying stuff on the outside of my pants about 15 years ago when a cell phone and its entire belt clip came off my belt while I was climbing a wind turbine and fell about 80 feet to the steel deck below. Now everything is inside the pockets all the time.
     
    #27 Lee Jay, Sep 26, 2017
    ttait likes this.
  8. alexcue

    alexcue Active Member

    Joined:
    May 27, 2014
    346
    311
    0
    Location:
    So Cal
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    OptimalPrime, I feel for ya. I used to carry keys for my motorcycle in a carabiner, the vibration would loosen the screw on catch and once caused all the keys to fall off. Luckily it was in a parking lot and they all fell close by. That was my lesson, never again would I carry keys out. Now I do have the Key Fob for my motorcycle but it's attached to the fob itself and not to a key. It's a calculated risk at this point. I guess my belt loop could fail, Shit happens. And I know they are expensive to replace and I'd be stuck without being able to move the motorcycle!

    Anyway, now all keys and fobs (other than the above scenario) go in my pocket. I'm not going to be able to improve on Toyota's design. I'm just minimizing an expensive mistake.
     
    #28 alexcue, Sep 26, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2017
    ttait likes this.
  9. GT4Prius

    GT4Prius Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2014
    530
    412
    0
    Location:
    Cumbria, UK
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Excel
    On mine the latch is recessed mostly within the fob and to unlock it you have to push away from where the key ring is, so the small key ring affords a protective barrier against being caught, even for the tiny bit of the latch that stands proud of the fob.

    So it seems v unlikely to me that mine would come unlatched accidentally.

    Agree that it might be better for some purposes to have key ring on the fob and not on the key, but that would have downsides too, as the key is much smaller than the fob and so it would be much more easily lost if there were no key ring on it.

    Key rings do go wrong though in my experience and carrying keys outside my pockets is something I would consider an unnecessary risk and one that I would avoid.

    Can understand OP being upset in the circs but think that my FOB is ok and am not inclined to share OPs rage about it.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #29 GT4Prius, Sep 26, 2017
    ttait likes this.
  10. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace 2025 Camry XLE FWD

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2016
    12,488
    11,731
    0
    Location:
    Central Virginia
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    XLE
    So, the OP's fobs are either defective or the UK uses a different fob.
    We need @bwilson4web to chime in. He has a Prime Plus.
     
    #30 Prodigyplace, Sep 26, 2017
  11. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2005
    28,608
    16,157
    0
    Location:
    Huntsville AL
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    Not really:
    [​IMG]
    The latch is clearly visible and recessed in the case.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #31 bwilson4web, Sep 26, 2017
    Prodigyplace likes this.
  12. GT4Prius

    GT4Prius Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2014
    530
    412
    0
    Location:
    Cumbria, UK
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Excel
    Looks the same as mine.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #32 GT4Prius, Sep 26, 2017
  13. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2006
    23,375
    12,468
    0
    Location:
    eastern Pennsylvania
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Using your phone in place of a fob might be possible with the Bolt.
     
    #33 Trollbait, Sep 26, 2017
  14. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2016
    2,036
    1,023
    0
    Location:
    USA
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius c
    Model:
    Four

    NO, really ?
    Big surprise.
    NOT.
     
    #34 Sam Spade, Sep 26, 2017
  15. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    11,013
    8,942
    0
    Location:
    New England
    Vehicle:
    Other Electric Vehicle
    Model:
    N/A
    After reading posts on this thread, I decided to purchase Key fob Holder Case.

    Well, Amazon link does not show. Search Amazon for this "TO12-4B-16-001 Leather Key fob Holder Case Chain Cover RING FIT For 2017 TOYOTA PRIUS PHV"
     
    #35 Salamander_King, Sep 29, 2017
    bisco likes this.
  16. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2006
    23,375
    12,468
    0
    Location:
    eastern Pennsylvania
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Amazon links won't show with an adblocker on.
     
    #36 Trollbait, Sep 30, 2017
    Salamander_King likes this.
  17. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    11,013
    8,942
    0
    Location:
    New England
    Vehicle:
    Other Electric Vehicle
    Model:
    N/A
    I see that's why I couldn't see it. Is that mean for those who do not use Adblock can see Amazon URL link in a comment?
     
    #37 Salamander_King, Sep 30, 2017
  18. heiwa

    heiwa Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 13, 2016
    223
    216
    0
    Location:
    Central Valley, CA
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    Were you ever able to find it? I'm hoping that you may have come to a comical but a happy ending to this distressing event of yours like looking for your glasses everywhere only to find it on your head...

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #38 heiwa, Oct 7, 2017
  19. OptimalPrime

    OptimalPrime Member

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2017
    160
    94
    0
    Location:
    Keene/Nashua
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    No such luck.

    I'm currently still living dangerously with only one fob (in my pocket, which I'm praying doesn't get a hole in it, hahaha), and no idea where the lost fob is.

    But I've bought a Chinese cable to attempt to get TechStream up and running on a laptop, to see if I can fix the problem myself with just the purchase of a genuine new fob. If I include the $259 price of the new HP Win 10 Pro laptop I bought primarily for this purpose, and the cable, and the trouble of installing an Oracle Win XP virtual machine and a genuine XP Pro license (which I'll hopefully be able to transfer from one of the 4 semi-dead 1998-era laptops I bought used from an employer in 2001) then surely it would have been cheaper to just go to a Toyota dealer.

    But the learning experience, and the ability to do many interesting and money-saving things in the future via TechStream, for myself and friends, will make this approach more satisfying to me. Particularly because I'm going to be doing a brake job on my 2005 Prius soon, and TechStream will allow me to use a better, more risk-free method than without it.
     
    #39 OptimalPrime, Oct 8, 2017
    heiwa likes this.
  20. huskers

    huskers Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2005
    2,544
    2,487
    0
    Location:
    Nebraska
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    Can't the FOB call home?
     
    #40 huskers, Oct 8, 2017
    heiwa likes this.
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 2 of 3