I saw this on the news this morning (NBC10/Providence) and I'm intrigued by this situation and am looking for your thoughts!

Two minute video of the story is below.

But in short: A Prius with SmartKey is parked at a train station garage 2 stories underground. Owner goes away for a few days then returns to realize that she has lost her Smart Key. Seems simple enough, but it's proving to be a problem.

Getting the door open was no problem; getting a new Smart Key paired to the car so it can be started and driven seems to be a big problem.

Here is the link to the video (I wasn't able to embed it perhaps because it's not a youtube vid.) http://vp.mgnetwork.net/traveler.swf...001ec92a4a0d&z

I'm interested in your thoughts on my 2 'big' questions:

1) Are they missing something simple to resolve this issue? Seems like they have tried a lot but I'm not sure what they do at the dealer that couldn't be done on a laptop at the garage.

2) Is SmartKey really that secure? I'm thinking if SmartKey is really this good and secure I'll do my best to never own a car without it.

 

I'm always concerned about this issue. I have a 2010 HS250h and a couple months ago my "Accessory Battery" went dead (dealer said it was a defective battery). It could not be boosted and is not easily replaced. The car had to be towed on a flatbed to the dealer for service, but this happened on the street. I live in a building with an underground garage that cannon accommodate a Tow Truck. The ramp down into the garage is about 25 degrees. If that had happened in my garage, I have no Idea how I would have had the car serviced.

 

...and thats why they give you two of them. But it seems weird that they cant get her car started. I dont remember whether or not the smartkeys came with the metal identification numbers like on the old Lexus keys that you need in order to duplicate, but either way, the dealer can prove she is obviously the owner. weird

 

1) I'm not familiar with hybrid but with regular car, you can put the car in neutral by pop the little cover by the shifter then push or pull for short distance.

2) As a smart key owner, I do love the feature but this definitely need some attention from Toyota.

 

The "smart" key is just an active/passive RFID chip. I think the encryption is just 40bit, so it's pretty weak compared to today's standards... They shoudl sell the software/hardware to backup your specific chips code and place it on a usb memory stick or something of the sort for easy backup and restoration when needed.

From my work with rfid, a passive rfid reader and software would be extremely cheap to sell to people for this purpose.

 

smart key in the end uses very similar design to coded normal keys...

... meaning if you lose all your smart keys, same thing will hapen as if you lose all your coded normal keys, there is no difference - at least one original key is needed to code replacement key.

i do understand that coded keys have not been standard in US for long time, so there may be people thinking this is somehow specific to smart keys or hybrids, but it is not.

 

you can boost Prius's accessory battery and it requires a lot less power than regular car... I wouldnt think HS is any different.

 

Very similar scenario I'm glad your car was on the street when that happened. After reading your post it reminded me that there are quite a few things that would put someone in this similar situation. I guess because it was electronic/computer related it just hit home for me more.

 

Good point! The dealer was out there when they shot this and I think they were going back today but the lesson for all of us remains the same...

If one smart key fails or you only have one; get another asap.

 

Im' not familar with the 'fancy' shifter in the Hybrid either. Anyone know if it can be shifted into Neutral with having the key on?


+1

 

I'd just take a regular key IMO. There is no hassle in taking the key out of my pocket and turning it, thats something i can do without complaining.

 

basically it would happen with any other modern car with coded keys

 

Thanks for the info!!

I guess keeping a spare or second key accomplishes close to what you've described in the mean time.

 

I don't mind a regular key either, but I will say I'm quite spoiled by the smart key in general.

Agreed, I had keys made for my wife's Pilot that were not programed so they would open the doors and twist in the ignition but not start the car.

However with the regular key, even one that's not programed, the car can be put in Neutral. Which brings us back to the question from earlier, can you put a Prius or for that matter an HS250 in N without a key?

 

i forgot if you can put car into ACC mode without key? if not, then not easily. certainly not without 12v power. and you need dollies to tow prius