Fob Range?

While my Prius is off being repaired - I've been rented a little Mazda 3. While overall I hate it, one thing that I continually notice is how far away I can be, and use the Lock/Unlock/Panic buttons on the Fob. By comparison, the range on my Prius is borderline pathetic. Now - I mostly use SKS, and lets face it, what does it really matter how far away you can be and still lock/unlock your vehicle? And the Prius is the first car I've ever owned with a Fob at all, so I have very little to compare it to, but it really does seem to have quite a limited range compared to others...

Cases where other cars Fob's work (Mazda 3, Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator, Mercedes Coup) 100% - and Mine doesn't, not even a little...

From the balcony of my apartment. (Second Floor)
Standing inside the front door of my friends house (parked right out front)
Standing in the front basement of my friends house (thought the window)
From the patio of a restaurant we all eat at weekly

Granted, these descriptions are all meaningless. But they're all cases where we can see our cars, that are well within range of other cars, but mine won't work. We frequently have to pop open a car remotely so someone else can grab something, and I *very* frequently feel the need to check that my brand new Prius containing my stuff is locked. (It takes so little effort to lock the car with SKS, that it doesn't register in my memory, and 20 seconds later, I don't remember locking the car - and go back to make sure). And the limited range can get quite annoying quickly.

Anyway - is it just me/my car/my fob? Is the range on Prius's shorter than average? Is the range on the cars I happened to compare it to longer than average? Am I perhaps slightly insane?

-Ken

 

They could get into the car - but not start it. And generally speaking, when I'm on my balcony, I'm trying to make sure the car is locked, not unlock it.

Edit: Misunderstood the post above. If *I* pressed the unlock button from the balcony, they could enter the car, but not start it. They could not magically unlock the car because I had the FOB on the balcony.

SKS (Smart Key System) and the buttons on the fob are really two different things.

The SKS part allows you to lock/unlock/start the car without touching the key or fob in any way (ie - it could stay buried in your pocket or purse)- and it has a range of about 2 feet from the intended target - tops. The fob must be right outside the door being opend to magically unlock it, and the fob must be in the car for the start button to work - so no worries there.

The buttons on the fob work like the buttons on any other cars fob, simply locking, unlocking, or making the car beep. Those are the buttons/functions that are giving my a difficult time sometimes.

Additionally, for added security, if you unlock the doors remotely (via either SKS, or the Unlock button on the fob), the doors will autolock if not touched in 30 seconds - making it difficult to accidentally unlock the car and leave it that way.

What I'd kill for is a auto-lock 30 seconds after the fob departs the car, and all doors are closed. Then I would care far less about the range of the fob, as I would feel far less compelled to doublecheck while walking away - especially if it chirped when autolocking.

(Quick - somebody make a mod!)

-Ken