Key won't come out of ignition on 2003

This is just a guess because I'm not very familiar with the Gen I Prius, but a lot of cars have a safety interlock that prevents you from removing the key when the car isn't in park.

Since you can remove the key with the battery disconnected I suspect that it's some sort of interlock system that's not working properly.

 

Do you shift the car into park?
Key will not come out if not in park.

 

Another key and ignition probably wouldn't help because clearly it can unlock as evidenced by the fact that it works with the battery disconnected. Instead, the problem is likely whatever switch or sensor detects that the car is in park. If you can figure out which wire going to the ignition engages the interlock a quick and cheap solution might be to just clip that wire to prevent the interlock from engaging at all.

You can go to techinfo.toyota.com and purchase a two day subscription for only $15. That will give you two days to access all of the factory service manuals and wiring diagrams for your car. If you're reasonably technically inclined you should be able to figure out how the interlock is designed to work and how to fix it or bypass it. If you're not, then any mechanic should be able to use the info at that site to figure it out for you... probably for a lot less than the dealer would charge.

 

We started with two '02 Prius' and still own one, so here's my .02 on the subject. Rarely, I experienced this same problem. Once, or twice, I merely forgot to place the car into Park. But the other times, it had to do with the steering wheel being aligned into what I'll call an up "lock" position. IF the steering wheel wasn't in the "up" position and fairly exact, I mean millimeters here, we couldn't get the key out. OUR solution was to move the steering wheel slightly left or right, while trying to move the key back, and then it came out fine.

Also to note, one of our '02s steering wheels would clearly be "locked" after the key was removed, on the other, the steering wheel still moved after the key was removed.

So... in addition to some type of Park sensor, there "may" be some type of steering wheel position sensor or physical lock.

Please let us know how this all works out, and forgive me if the above doesn't apply to your situation.

 

+1. Also, if I recall correctly, there's a manual override you can use to get your key out while you're studying up on the interlock circuit. It should be mentioned in your owner's manual, and it's a lever you push upward through a hole in the lower left of the steering column cover. There's a little plug in the hole. If you don't want to fuss with the plug you can also just manage to feel for the lever through the slot in the column cover where it slides up and down the bracket. If your finger is skinny enough. If you have a large knuckle you'll end up with both your key and your finger stuck in the car, and unhooking the battery will only help with the key.

-Chap

 

I've noticed with my 2001 if I don't put it in park when I turn the key off (it will only turn to acc) all the display lights go off but the circle around the gear select and maybe the gears. I'm thinking maybe this would be a clue if the interlock isn't working.

Looking through my manual it shows the shift lock system consisting of a Shift position sensor, a shift lock control switch, and a shift lock solenoid (on the shift linkage), a shift lock control ECU (behind the dash below the steering wheel), stop light switch (on the brake pedal), and a key interlock soleniod (looks like its close to the key switch) The manual doesn't discribe how it works but just different voltages/resistance you should have from different connectors in the system. I'm guessing your key interlock solenoid isn't releasing, if you could find the solinoid connected to your key switch and unplug it, it may give you a temporary fix.

Good luck!
Gerry

 

Disconnect the 12V battery for a few minutes, then reconnect it and see if the car will start.

 

I suppose it's a bit late now, but I didn't mean for you to disconnect everything connected to that black ring interlock. I'm assuming that contains the electronics to detect the smart chip in the key that disables the engine immobilizer. Like Patric said, though, disconnecting the battery for a while should be enough to get it working again.

Instead, I imagine there's a solonoid somewhere in the ignition lock that engages when the car is not in park and prevents you from turning the key far enough to be able to pull the key out. Since the solonoid is de-activated when the battery is disconnected, then it follows that disconnecting the solonoid entirely will also deactivate it and allow you to remove the key whenever you want. There should be a single wire powering that solonoid and that's the one you would need to clip. It's likely that wire is contained in a wiring harness and if you try to remove the whole harness you'll disconnect a lot more than the solonoid and other things won't work.

If there are several harnesses connected to the ignition lock you could try disconnecting them one at a time to see which releases the solonoid so you might be able to narrow it down that way, but I think a TIS subscription might be your best bet as that should point you to the wire you need... or may even help you figure out what's wrong and fix the whole problem.

 

Hear hear ... there's really nothing, nothing, nothing that compares to looking at the wiring diagrams and reading the manual.

-Chap

 

My manual shows a 4 pin connector for the key interlock solenoid.

Gerry

 

I also have the same problem with my Prius 2002 model, i cannot take the key out of it and i cannot start the car as well, the ps light is on, as well as the main battery like and the car with exclamation mark, please help me, i am struggling to get this car spark, when i place scantool on it, i got the code P3120 and P3030, but one main thing is not being able to pull the key out unless i take off the batt terminal, or unplug the cable that goes into the key sensor near the steer. More over, the gear cannot move to D, but it can move between R and N, shifting it to P is not possible, as much as you push it to P, it return to circle R, but cannot stick at P