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Prius Camping Security

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by ANCHORMAN, Mar 24, 2024.

  1. ANCHORMAN

    ANCHORMAN Junior Member

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    I travel and camp in 2015 Prius V 4. When I lock the doors with the button on the drivers door when going to bed. Can someone open my drivers door when my key fob is inside the car? Do I need to wrap it with tin foil? I keep my spare key fob wrapped in foil. Thanks!
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    This is jokes right? You keep your key fob wrapped in tin foil You're worried about somebody unlocking your driver's door while you're sleeping in the Prius. Seriously? Man a machete will cut through the Prius door without incident practically You've got no sheet metal protecting you You think you're safe and you're a Prius or any car let's forget the Prius part of it a Ford focus fiesta any of those crossover things Man a bear with his claws will rip right through that like he owns it anybody with any kind of a sheet metal tool I have a screwdriver with a blade on the end of it that's for ripping ductwork I regularly ripped through Prius sheet metal at the junkyard like I own it all the time just for fun to damage your harm a person that's sleeping in a vehicle is going to be no challenge better sleep lightly. I hope this is just a joke of some sort or something. But as for your question yeah an electronic person that knows what they're doing stealing cars I'm sure they can easily make your car unlock or people running around out doing this to people and cars that are sleeping I don't know I would think the person in the car sleeping would might be smart enough to have a weapon like a gun Good way to get myself shot I guess but then again criminals don't think like that generally speaking.
     
  3. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    The radio physics that allow a "relay attack" type of auto theft to work at all are badly compromised when all of the keyfobs are inside the target car.

    So maybe not impossible, but a heck of a lot harder than the currently fashionable thing that anybody with $400 worth of radios can do.
     
  4. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    @Timbukt2, the tin foil is to prevent the space aliens from reading the secret Toyota codes:D:p:ROFLMAO::sick: Otherwise they can beam him out of the car......

    Seriously, get a Fariday bag and place the fobs in there. They're cheap, affordable and work as long as you completely close the bag. There's also the panic button option; but useless if only Sacsquach can hear it.

    My gen4 knows if the keys are inside the car or outside, but I wouldn't bet my life on it and haven't tested that. Make sure your manual key works, then test.

    Hope this helps.......
     
  5. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    You're not safe in a thin veil of sheet metal to say the least an animal will get through if they really want to like a bear or a rhinoceros they run through a generation 3 or 4 like it wasn't even there It would implode I would think.
     
  6. Eddie25

    Eddie25 Active Member

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    Seems like a human opening the door is a much more likely scenario than a human, rhino, or bear tearing through the car. I'd bet that opening the door is actually the most common way for a ne'er do well to get in, by a lot (including the rhino and bear).

    I think it's a good question. Part of me thinks you don't have to do anything. You can lock your key fob in the car, no? Best bet is to have a friend help try out different scenarios, or you could probably figure out a way to test it out with a window rolled down.
     
  7. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Can you lock your key fob in your car. Generally it's not supposed to work that way how are you going to lock the key fob in your car? Take the battery out take the key with you the physical key? Usually if you try to lock the fob in your car and the fob is active and working it won't allow that to happen correct? I think that's the way it works so generally the answer is not easily. And I'm using the camping scenario as the person's name suggests so you're out there and oh I don't know Yellowstone national Park camping in your Prius or your Tahoe Best make sure your food is packed up inside of a sealed cooler container something maybe set it outside the vehicle because a big animal a bear or anything like that they'll come right through that vehicle should they desire to now if you set the scenario so that the desire's not there then there you go. But make one mistake and that big animal will rip that car to shreds to get the peanut butter or what have you your car is going to be no obstacle to anything much past a monkey or anything like that animal wise which if you're out camping in your Prius you're probably in places where there are large animals that's why you're touring the country and sleeping in your Prius right maybe not.
     
  8. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    My experiences with 'wild' bears has been that they are just as afraid of you, as you are afraid of them. Just don't turn and run - you'll become prey. If a bear has something that's your, it's theirs now. If you want to fight them over it; good luck to you... Each party just slowly backs away or cautiously goes around each other. If your in a group, just make a lot of noise - everybody will know your coming and everybody will avoid each other. Really easy to do with a bunch of kids in tow.
    I've actually had a bear bust out the passenger window of a friends car around 2AM. I heard the glass break and went to investigate. Saw the bear a few cars over, trying to hide behind the tire of a truck. Obviously not the first time for this guy. Hit it with my flashlight and yell at it and it took off into the woods. The camp host stated; "That's the 3nd car this year it's broken into." - known bear burglar.

    Just my 2 cents....
     
  9. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Yeah I'm okay with animals too All I'm saying is that they are large enough that just one slice of their big claws on a full grown male or whatever it is will make short work of what most people think they're protected in their vehicles bullets large animals hell no even a machete like I say we'll slice right through a Prius no problem your window regulator and glass will stave off the machete a little bit now people are carrying around cordless sawzalls they just take a 14-in blade and shove it right through your door through you instantly incapacitated with $119 tool from home Depot yeah I think about weird crap like that. And then the next thing you know it's in the news
     
  10. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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  11. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Your car will stay locked if you're camping inside and doors are locked. However I did get woken up one night with someone who had the exact same Prius as me and opened the driver's side door and said, Sorry, wrong car... I was positive the car was locked and I must of been mistaken, but that one incident after a hundred plus car camping moments is always in my thoughts.
     
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  12. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I had an appointment at a Belle Tire in Detroit one day for new tires on my Mazda.

    I went in, looked through the choices, chose my tires, and handed over the keys. And I read some magazines in the waiting room until they gave my keys back and said the car was ready.

    I went out in the lot and there was my car with the wrong tires on it. I spoke to the management and they looked in the bays and somebody else's Mazda was up in the air getting my tires. I happened to have come on the same morning as somebody with the same model of car and the same cut of the key. Our keys would open and start either car.
     
  13. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    I "think" if you lock the doors from the inside with the keyfob inside, you can't unlock it
    from the outside drives door. You can test this by leaving the window open and/or removing the
    physical key from the fob and have someone inside the car with the fob and lock the car then try
    to open the car from the drivers handle.
    Then you won't have to go by what anyone else says, you'll know because YOU did it.

     
  14. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Hospitals have similar problems when it comes to surgery...
     
  15. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    One of dad's college stories (1950s) was that there were even fewer actual key combinations in circulation back then. His dorm-mates compared car keys and found numerous cases of shared key cuts. Some cuts could open 3 or 4 cars, just within that dorm's sample of vehicles.
    Also many cases of correct patient, correct surgery, but on the wrong side. "Bilateral confusion." Especially problematic with amputations.

    This is why doctors and nurses, during surgical prep, now ask the patient what surgery they understand they are having, and together boldly mark the surgical location on their skin with a felt tip marker. After so many well publicized cases in the past, any new cases happening when this verification step is neglected will lead to even higher malpractice verdicts.
     
  16. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I had heard about the bilateral confusion, though at one point the advice I heard was to prominently mark the wrong location with NOT THIS ONE.

    Seems like there could be some danger if a mix of both conventions should come into use. I mean, it should be clear enough if one is marked CUT and the other marked DON'T CUT, but only if there isn't a gown or some gauze covering the DON'T. Different color marker, too, maybe?
     
  17. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    So far, all the cases I've heard of bears ripping open car doors, have been Yogi trying to get to the picnic cooler inside. This is even part of bear school in Yosemite Valley, but most wild bears elsewhere don't have access to such prestigious education.

    The worst car damages I've heard about were from bears that managed to get inside unlocked vehicles, but had the misfortune of the door or hatch closing behind them. Not having been taught how to open car doors from the inside -- or possibly from too many variations to learn them all -- they severely shredded the interiors while trying to find another path out.

    On the various lists of fatal bear attacks in North America, I'm not seeing any case of a person being attacked inside their vehicle. One such list:
    List of fatal bear attacks in North America - Wikipedia

    I'm not finding any list of fatal rhinoceros attacks on this continent. A zookeeper was killed last year in Austria, but not inside a vehicle.
     
    #17 fuzzy1, Mar 24, 2024
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2024
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  18. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    Just tested my gen4. Outside automatic unlock disabled while fob is inside the car. Fob also won't start the car with the manual key separated from the fob.

    Hope this helps.

    BTW: both anesthesiologist and surgeon are suppose to talk to you in Pre-op. That's protocol in my hospital.
     
  19. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    I'll have to try to remember to try this...
    Mine starts without the physical key in the fob though.

     
  20. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    My Gen 2 and 3s will start no matter where the physical steel key is I don't think they could care less they care about where the fob is but not the key but that would be a good deterrent if somebody's trying to take your car while you're out on a run or something is a couple of incidents that I've seen come up that the key button and whatnot could have helped out a lot but they would have to know how to implement it and all that sort of thing Best for them to just get robbed and report it and try to be a hero or something A lot of folks don't think well on their feet.