How I got a new key fob for 2015 Prius

Hey dudes,

I wanted to make this post because, after hours of searching, I wasn't finding a clear answer anywhere on the specifics of getting a second key fob made for a 2015 Prius, or the cost. I was able to do it myself, so I figured I'd tell you how its done.

I have a 2015 Prius Two. I bought it used, so it only came with one key fob. I wanted to make a copy as a backup before I take a road trip. Here is how I did it, at a somewhat reasonable cost.

First, I went on eBay and bought a used OEM key fob from seller oem-keyremotes. The cost was $97.85, which is actually a good deal considering many of the other sites I found selling the used fobs were charging about $130 for them. Beware to not buy the $10-$15 key fobs you may see on eBay, as those are only the outer shell casing, with no computer chip inside. As I learned through my research, you can only get brand new key fob directly from a Toyota dealership, and those will cost $200+, so a decent used one is the way to go. This used one was reset to "virgin" status and had a blank hard key inside, ready to be cut. It was free shipping Priority mail, so I received it in 3 business days.

Home Depot can NOT cut the hard key that slides inside the fob. That was one of the hard facts to determine in my online searching, so I drove to Home Depot to determine this. They don't sell any of the special blanks and a laser key cutter is required to cut them, which they don't have. They referred me to Ace Hardware. I ended up going to a second Ace Hardware location because that one had the laser cutter required to cut these special hard keys, which are apparently called "Sidewinder" keys. That location charged me $10 to get it cut.

The Ace Hardware guy was skeptical, because he said many people bring in cheap sidewinder key blanks that, when cut, will have the metal bend and warp, making them unusable. While searching online, I saw a few listings where you could get key blanks for just a few dollars each (like 5 for $12 or something). I imagine these are the cheap keys that he was warning about. The locksmith I later visited said he could sell me another hard key for $50, so I imagine that is more around the price (or maybe like $20-30 a piece, I haven't researched it) Ace Hardware was also NOT able to program the key fob. They referred me to a locksmith.

The locksmith I first went to was asking $60 to program the new key fob. I needed to have my car present along with both key fobs (the new one and old one) for him to program it. However, something wasn't working. The car recognized the new key fob, but just wouldn't "accept it" as he put it, to allow it to be programmed. He ended up not being able to do it, and referred me to another locksmith across the street.

The second locksmith ran into the same problem at first, but then decided to "reset" the system. This took about 16 minutes to do, which was basically just waiting for the car to reset itself, whatever that means. He tried it again and was then able to make it work. His charge for programming the new key fob was $100, which I was happy to pay, considering other locksmiths I had researched would have charged $120-$130 to program it. It seemed like that, had it accepted the new key fob to begin with, it would have only taken 5 minutes to program it.

So to summarize the facts for getting a new key fob for a 2015 Prius-
- A brand new key fob can only be bought from a Toyota dealership, which will cost $200+.
- I bought a good used key fob with a blank hard key inside on eBay for $97 from seller oem-keyremotes
- Home Depot can NOT cut the hard key or program the fob.
- Ace Hardware can cut the hard key that slides inside the fob as long as they have a laser key cutter.
- Ace Hardware can NOT program the fob.
- A local locksmith may charge $120-$130 to program the new fob, but a little searching may have you find one charging $60-$100.
- If the fob isn't allowing the reprogramming, suggest that the locksmith try resetting the system.

Total cost of a duplicate (used) key fob with cut hard key: $208.
That's $98 for the used key fob, $10 to cut the hard key, and $100 to program the fob.

I hope that clears things up and helps others out. Bye for now. Ack Ack.