New key fob question, please?

friends.

Can someone please tell me what it means when you press one of the buttons on your key fob and the little red light goes on?

I ask because I only had one key fob. I bought a new one which arrived yesterday. I am currently trying to "chicken dance" my way to programming the SKS feature. I follow every step laid out in this forum to a T, and it doesn't work....YET!

I opened the new fob to make sure it has a battery in it. It does.

However, I notice that when I press the lock or unlock button on my OLD fob, it works, but I do not see a little red light in the corner of the fob.

When I press either button on the BRAND NEW fob, the little red light does light up.

I am wondering if this indicates something I need to know with regard to the battery or the performance of the fob?

The new fob does enable me to start and drive the car with the fob in the slot ....for which I have read here that the battery is not needed.

So....does the little red light mean that the battery in the BRAND NEW fob is faulty?

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

Julia

 

Thanks Patrick. I will replace the old fob's battery today. That said, there are numerous posts in this forum that state that many members have programmed the SKS features in a brand new silver logo'ed fob for GenII vehicles.

Are the posts false?

 

Thank you very much, Harold!

 

I DID IT! I PROGRAMMED THE NEW KEY FOB WITH THE SKS FEATURES!

If you look at the following thread and scroll down to where the gentleman posts the exact steps and follow them, you will find that it is indeed possible to program a Gen II Prius to accept a BRAND NEW key fob (with silver logo) BY YOURSELF!

The only thing I'm uncertain of is his final step. As he mentions, one has to play around with the final step. His final step did not work for me. I have a 2007 Prius with the SKS system. I am not exactly sure what I finally did that worked, but I believe it was pressing both buttons on the OLD fob, then both buttons on the NEW fob, and finally the lock button on the new fob.

What I can tell you for SURE is that it is indeed possible to get the SKS system to work WITHOUT HAVING A DEALER DO IT by using the various steps known on this forum as "the chicken dance".

So....the long and short of it is....instead of paying my dealer $350 for a new fob which they would program, I bought a brand new fob from a dealer n Cleveland (whose contact information I will grab and post here for anyone else who may need it now or in the future) for $159 (including shipping) and I programmed my 2007 Prius to accept the brand new fob INCLUDING THE SKS SYSTEM!

I am very excited that I persisted instead of being discouraged when at first it didn't work.

I am off now to buy some new batteries...one for my old fob (because the red light no longer illuminates) and a couple to hand on hand for any future need. At the same time I will have the key maker at Walmart cut the tiny steel key that came with my new key fob.

I'm not happy to have to pay $159 for a car key, but I surely do feel like I got a good deal compared with the alternative.

It's a good day when you can save yourself $200 by persisting and doing something urslef which the dealer said couldn't be done!

Thanks much to those who have posted the tips for programming in the past and left them on this forum to benefit the rest of us.

Thanks also to Harold and Patrick for responding to my question regarding the tiny red light on the key fob.

Julia

 

Sorry....forgot to post the thread containing the ever-important steps! Scroll down a ways.....

IMPORTANT EXPERIENCE: KEY/FOB Programming Issues | PriusChat

 

The dealer from whom I bought my brand new Gen II key fob / transponder / transmitter is METRO TOYOTA in Cleveland.

The part cost $150+9.45 for shipping.

Here is their website: Metro Toyota Scion in Cleveland, OH | New & Used Toyota Car Dealer Serving Bedford OH, Kent & Brunswick OH

I hope this helps someone else. I may start a new thread just so that it is out there and easier to find.

Julia

 

Thank you very much, Patrick! I'm very excited! Now we will see if Walmart can cut the little steel key!

I will report back about that on the thread.

Thanks again.

Julia

 

Harold, that was really nice of you to try your key fob in an effort to help me.

Thank you again.

Julia

 

As I was chicken dancing my way to a second fully functional SKS key fob, I realized now odd it must look to my neighbors....

"She's just sitting in her car and she keeps opening and closing her car door! Should we call an ambulance?".