SGT

It's for locking the glove compartment and trunk pass-through. It also gives you the option of manually locking/unlocking the doors and trunk.

is350

oh i see.
thanks

the lndr

it the key I mean can be used for the glove compartment or the trunk. Im not sure about anywhere else

Rockville

The metal key can open the trunk if the battery fails or the driver's door or the glove box.

The Smart key can be set in three modes: You can individually unlock any door by placing your hand inside the door handle or,,,, both doors on one side of the car will unlock when you touch either of the door handles on that side of the car and ....lastly you can set it for all doors to unlock as a result of you touching any door handle.

You can program this yourself by locking the IS and then holding the lock and panic button down at the same time for fifteen seconds and the icon with the car door(s) open will appear on the instruments at the top.. Repeat until you see the desired number of doors open on the icon. Your set and you can reprogram when the situation requires...

On the GS there is a black lock button on all four door handles. On the IS there is lock buttons only on the front doors. If you push the lock button and hear a long tone check the car for the Smart key or the ignition may still be on inside.

Rock

fz1

I wish the car would lock if you walked away from it with the key (after a pre-set time limit - 30 sec etc).

kensteele

That wouldn't be practical since that would mean the key went undetected and then the car locked, it could possibly go undetected and lock when it shouldn't (as in you didn't walk away or the remote battery went dead). Besides, I like to keep my car unlocked in my garage.

In any case, if you unlock the car and you don't open a door, after a few seconds, the car will relock the doors automatically.

fz1

I think that's practical. How often does the remote go dead anyway? Rarely. What's the worst that could happen, the car locks unexpectedly? Better than the other way around. Besides, it would only lock if you turned the car off and got out and shut the door. A lot of alarm systems are set up this way. It's called "passive arming" and many insurance companies give discounts for this feature.

garfield20

So to conclude.. This is the only 2 ways to lock the car when you leave the car
1. Push the black lock button on the front doors
2. Push the remote lock button

No passive 30 secs.

spwolf

only 2 ways? lol.

Simply hitting the button on the door works like a charm, i love smart entry just for that - it will be my personal prefference to never buy an car without smart entry again (Toyota/Lexus is putting them on all cars they have for sale in Europe).

My company installs alarms and from personal experience, I do not reccomend setting up automatic locking after last door close. We even worked with the system in my prius and managed to get alarm to arm/disarm via smart entry, works beautifully!

mkivbadger

I apologize in advance if this has already been covered, but I searched and didn't find a clear answer.

My wife and I just ordered an IS350 and she asked a question that neither I nor the Lexus salesman knew the answer:

With the Smart Key - what happens if/when the Smart Key battery dies? There is no key way in the doors. Does this mean that you have to use the auxiliary key and crawl through the trunk?

Then what? With a dead battey in the Smart Key, could you still start the car?

Thanks!

ShowcarA4

on the drivers side door you can actually pop off the plastic piece next to the door handle and there will be a key hole. Its in the manuel. I havent tried it yet. but even my sales person told me this. As far as starting the car with a low battery in the key fob, the instructions states that you must put the transmitter next to the start button and press button for 5 seconds.

wolverine

iTrader: (9)

theres a keyhole on the trunk that (i think) can unlock all the doors

AgBlue

I believe there's a keyhole under the driver side door handle. There's a small slit there. But once you get in the car where do you put the key to start it? The slit by the the shifter is the shift lock, so I'm guess it's not that.

::Edit:: Whoops didn't realize that somebody already said that with a low battery you have to hold it near the start button. I guess if you lose your fob but not the key, then you're out of luck?

wolverine

iTrader: (9)

nevermind, I just tried it and it dont work

Rockville

unless you have too. You can lever the cap on the driver's door handle at the little groove at the bottom. The plastic cap comes off but is more difficult to put back on. You press the release for the metal key on the key fob and pull the metal key out and unlock the door with it. If you have a dead car battery you will now need a jump start so pop the hood. Once you have jumpers connected put your foot on the brake and push the start button when you see the green light.

If the smartkey's battery is low hold it right next to the start button and there should be enough residual signal to start the car. Try wiggling the steering wheel if the steering wheel lock is jammed.

As Wolverine stated the trunk mechanical key lock only unlocks the trunk.